THE GUILFORDIAN
APRIL 23, 1 999
Women's lax makes it to seventh
straight ODAC quarterfinals
By Audrey Ross
STAFF WRITER
Amidst preparation for fi
nals, the ever-so-popular Seren
dipity, and the regular chaotic
lives of Guilford students, on
Saturday the women's lacrosse
team (8-8 overall, 4-4 ODAC)
was defeated 18-6 in their last
regular- season home game in
Old Dominion Athletic Confer
ence (ODAC) action with
Randolph-Macon College (10-4,
7-1 ODAC). Saturday's game
was the last game to be played
on home turf for many of the
members.
"I don't think we were re
ally focused on what we needed
to do," said Head Coach Ken
Glardon. "It got us really frus
trated. It was hard to focus on
the game with everything going
on during the weekend.''
Freshman attack Keli
Donnelly led all Guilford scor
ers with three points (two goals,
one assist). Senior defenseman
Tina Schroeter netted two balls
for two points. Fellow senior
Nel Andrews scored a goal and
was followed by Melissa Urann,
who scored off Donnelly's assist.
The Yellow Jackets managed to
hold Junior Jenn Jankowski,
Guilford's top scorer and the
current ODAC player of the
week, scoreless for the first time
in 26 games.
"We had a lot of turnovers
and we didn't protect the ball,"
said Glardon. "There were too
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COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION
Carmen Eckman finishes her career as a Quaker.
many people open on defense.
The average shot was three or
four feet from the goal, which is
hard to stop."
Senior goalie Lauren Gill
made eight saves off of the 32
shots on goal, allowing
Randolph-Macon to net 18 balls.
"I felt Saturday was a chal
lenge to my mental strength and
I succeeded," said Gill. "It is dif-
ficult for me to know that in our
last home game as seniors we
did not play well. Saturday was
a wake-up call for Lynchburg be
cause it flat-out showed us we
needed to play tighter defense."
"The Macon game was cer
tainly a challenge," said senior
Carmen Eckman. "We certainly
came close to collapsing in the
first half but managed to pick it
up in the second half."
Then, in Wednesday's
ODAC quarterfinal, Guilford
was defeated 10-6 by Lynchburg
College. The Quakers finished
sth in the ODAC for the 1999
season, while 4th-ranked
Lynchburg will take on Roanoke
on Saturday in Salem, VA at the
ODAC semifinals.
"I thought the focus was
very good, much better on de
fense," said Glardon. "We got
off to a very good start, which
helped. Our biggest problems
were turnovers due to the hard
pressure and doubles. I am
definitely proud of what the se
niors have done in the past four
years. The eight of them stuck
with it, which is good."
Jenn Jankowski got back in
the books with two goals, and
Tina Schroeter also netted two
goals. Nel Andrews made her
fifteenth goal of the season and
made one assist, while Donnelly
netted one goal and Luisella
Perri dished out one assist.
Gill saved 12 of 21 shots,
allowing Lynchburg to score 10
goals.
"The talent that
exists on this team
wasn't at its peak on
Saturday, but we did
seem to redeem our
selves against
Lynchburg," said
Eckman. "We played
a strong game, par
ticularly on the de
fense. It was a tough
loss, but I still feel
like we walked off
the field with an in
credible sense of dig
nity and pride."
This was the conclusion to
the women's season.
"1 think this team is some
thing special," said senior Becki
Davis. "The past two games
tested how strong we are and
how much stronger we'll be
come. Now that 1 am done, it
doesn't matter what place we
came in. I am proud of each and
every person on the team and I
Sports
hope they are proud of
themselves as well."
Many seniors re
flected after the game
about their past seasons
at Guilford. "I think today
was a hard realization
with two minutes left in
the game that it was the
last time I'd play on a col
lege team," said Guilford's
lone tri-sport athlete
Luisella Perri. "But we all
played like that, we gave
it all we had."
"There's a lot of his
tory on this team, a lot of
strong roots," said
Eckman. "So, in the end
it's not really whether we
advanced to the 2nd round
or not, it's what we're
shared with this team and
what we will take with us
along our separate jour
neys."
Gretzky, conf d from page 16
mean to do it," Gretzky said af
terward. "That's what I used to
say."
But even that couldn't take
the luster off his day.
The puck had barely
rippled the chords of the Rang
ers' net when Jagr, heir appar
ent to Gretzky's crown as the
best in the game, led his team
mates in forming a receiving line
to shake The Great One's hand.
Countless hugs, three curtain
calls and several tearful laps of
the arena later, Gretzky was
gone, though a final set of fin
gerprints lingered.
Before the game the Rang
ers painted "99"0n the ice be
tween the nets and the
backboards on both ends to rec
ognize the space Gretzky called
his "office"—the place where he
dished out literally hundreds of
assists. Earlier, on his third
shift of the opening period, he
set up shop there and two Pen
guins, defenseman Kevin
Hatcher and right wing Alexei
Kovalev, materialized on either
side of the net, hoping to hem
Gretzky in.
He began stickhandling,
shifting the puck from backhand
to forehand, keeping it tantaliz
ingly out of the reach of both
players. Neither dared lunge at
him, maybe because they had
seen the same replays everyone
else had hundreds of times:
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COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORAAATION
Tina Schroeter netted two goals in as
many games this past week.
Gretzky threading a lethal pass
through the narrowest of open
ings; Gretzky delicately flipping
the puck over the net, off the
back of the goalkeeper, and into
the net; Gretzky spotting an on
rushing teammate and caroming
the puck off the corner boards,
the way a pool hustler might.
The Penguins, as it turned
out, dodged the bullet that time
and on another dozen opportu
nities like it. Gretzky kept set
ting up teammates; they kept
failing to finish. But every time
he did so was one more re
minder that the game really
does slow down for the great
ones, that they know not just
where everything would hap
pen, but where it would happen
next.
The only thing that sur
prised Gretzky all afternoon hap
pened with 30 seconds left in the
game. John Muckler, the Ranger
coach who had been an assistant
when Gretzky broke in with the
Edmonton Oilers some 15 years
ago, called a timeout with the
score tied 1-1.
"John's got a daughter
that's about to give birth in
Edmonton ... and he said, 'l've
got to tell you something. I just
had a grandson today. And now
you got to get the winner,"'
Gretzky recalled. "And maybe
when 1 was younger, I might
have got it for him. 1 didn't to
day, so maybe that's why it's the
right time."
15