Tigers Celebrate a Goal
Setting the Scene:
The Wittenberg University women's lacrosse team had a tough first season under Head Coach Katherine Haney, in part thanks to an extremely difficult schedule that included four teams that either advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament or were among those considered for such exclusive company. For the season, Wittenberg finished 2-8 overall and 2-4 in the North Coast Athletic Conference with a relatively young team that included just one senior and featured freshmen in several prominent starting positions.
Postseason Honors:
Senior attacker Katie Babcock (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney) was the team's lone first-team selection after finishing the season fourth on the team with eight goals and third on the team in total points with 13.
Sophomore defender Emily Hiscar (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) made second team, her first all-conference honors in the sport after garnering mention each of the last two years in soccer. Freshman goalkeeper Clare Bucheit (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) was rewarded for her fine play, which included a save percentage of .514, with second-team honors as well. In addition, junior midfielderRachel Ridgeway (Montclair, NJ/The Taft School) and freshman midfielder Kari Thomas (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) took home honorable mention honors. Thomas led the team with 15 goals and 15 total points.
In addition, Thomas earned second-team All-West Region honors.
Super Senior:
Katie Babcock was the only senior on the 2003 field hockey roster and she was the only senior on the 2004 women's lacrosse roster. Now there's a survivor. Babcock spent her senior season as an attacker in women's lacrosse, and she put up respectable numbers of eight goals, five assists and 13 total points, good for a tie for third on the team. In her first three years in the Red & White, however, Babcock was a defender.
She finished her career with 17 goals, six assists, 23 total points and 170 ground balls in 54 games. She led the team in ground balls last year with 56, a year after she posted another outstanding total of 55 in 2002.
A Bright Future:
For the Tiger women's lacrosse program, the future is now. In 2004, a coaching transition and graduation losses that included the team's starting goaltender and all-time leading goal-scorer proved too much to overcome. But it gave several underclassmen an opportunity to shine, and they made the most of those opportunities. Six players scored between 11 and 15 points on the season in 2004, and the two leading the way were freshman - Thomas and attacker Melissa Jackson (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington). Both players finished with 15 goals and 15 total points.
Nine players started all 10 games for the Tigers, and four of them were freshmen - Thomas, Jackson, defender Lauren Fraley (Delaware, Ohio/Olentangy), who led the team in draw controls with 13, and Bucheit, who played every minute of every game in goal for the Tigers. Two other freshmen - attackers Michelle Hanners (New Albany, Ohio/Columbus School for Girls) and Lauren Bouton (Roswell, Ga./Roswell) - appeared in all 10 games and made several starts along the way. Bouton led the Tigers with 11 caused turnovers.
The total of seven freshmen in 2004 was a very strong number considering the coaching transition. Most teams lose ground in recruiting during such a time. That freshman class makes up for a sophomore class that includes just one student-athlete - Emily Hiscar, who is also an all-conference soccer player. She started every game for the second straight year, and she led the Tigers in 2004 with 30 ground balls.
The junior class is solid, and the five individuals in it figure to make up an excellent leadership core for 2005. Midfielder Jenny Burns (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) started all nine of the games in which she played in 2004 and finished second on the team with 13 total points, a year after she scored 44 goals and added 18 assists en route to third-team All-America honors.
Two other juniors started every game in 2004, Ridgeway and attacker Erin Kelly (Edina, Minn./Hopkins). Ridgeway was third on the team with nine goals, while Kelly was in double figures in scoring for a third straight year. She was one of three players with eight goals, five assists and 13 total points.
The Coach:
Katherine Haney (Denison, 2000) was named head women's lacrosse coach at Wittenberg in July 2003, and in her first season at the helm led the Tigers to a 2-8 overall record, including a 2-4 mark in the NCAC. Previously, Haney spent a year as an assistant women's lacrosse and women's soccer coach at Utica College in New York and two years as head girls' lacrosse coach at Smoky Hills High School in Aurora, Colo.
As a player, Haney helped Denison to two NCAC championships, two berths in the NCAA Division III Tournament and four straight winning seasons as the team's starting goaltender from 1997-2000. In addition to her duties with the women's lacrosse program, Haney serves as an assistant for the field hockey team, and in 2003 she helped the Tigers win the 2003 NCAC regular season and tournament championships.