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February 1, 2009 E-MAIL PRINT

Women's D2: Stonehill set for major challenge

by Mike Zhe/

No need for the Stonehill Skyhawks to seek out tough tests in Division 2. The tough tests are coming to them.

The Skyhawks’ decade-long reign atop the Northeast-10 will get a fresh challenge. New Haven, a team ranked in the top 10 in one national poll, is preparing for its first season in the NE-10 after leaving the East Coast Conference.

Next year, another ECC power — Adelphi, located on Long Island — will join the NE-10 as well, swelling the league’s women’s lacrosse membership to 12.

It also will make the Skyhawks’ job tougher. They haven’t lost an NE-10 regular-season game in nine years.

“We’re happy to welcome them,” said Stonehill coach Katie Lambert-Conover. “We enjoy good competition.”

Why is Lambert-Conover smiling? She has many of the parts from last year’s 14-3 team back, including three All-Americans and four of her top six scorers.

The former Stonehill standout also feels like she’s more prepared heading into her second season than she was heading into her first.

“Last year it was my first year and I was really feeling it out,” she said. “This year we’re going right at it. We’re in the right state of mind and everyone’s ready to go.”

Senior midfielder Michelle Kelly may have trouble topping a junior year in which she earned MVP honors in the NE-10, leading the team in goals (62), assists (29) and points. If the 5-foot-5 sparkplug can stay healthy, she’ll leave her named scrawled all over the school’s record book.

Other key players are All-America midfielders Liza Gross and Jaclyn Craig, and sophomore back Devin O’Leary (Framingham, Mass.)

Senior Justine Ferland (Portsmouth, N.H.) steps into the goaltending slot after backing up Amanda McGeachey. She has only played in parts of nine games in her career, but Lambert feels she’ll be a net gain.

New Haven, meanwhile, lost just one senior from a 14-3 team that shattered the school mark for wins, and returns its top seven scorers.

That group includes attacks Brigid Brady (53 goals) and Brianna Kenworthy (Holden, Mass.), plus sisters Ashley and Mallory Ferrandiz, who racked up 64 and 55 points, respectively, a year ago.

Goalies Shannon Greenwood (East Falmouth, Mass.) and Shannon Kilburn (North Branford, Conn.) also return after splitting minutes in 2008.

For those wondering, the clash between New Haven and Stonehill will take place April 15, under the lights in North Easton, Mass., just two weeks before conference tournament play kicks off.

Beyond those two, the discussion of contenders should include Southern New Hampshire and Merrimack.

SNHU (12-6) set a school record for wins and advanced all the way to the NE-10 championship game, where it was a 17-10 loser to Stonehill. Only three seniors left that team, and second-team All-American and NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year Julie Kraus (Derry, N.H.) is back to anchor a defensive unit that allowed 12.72 goals, second-best in the league.

Up front, Libby Parent (Hinesburg, Vt.) and Sherry Darrell (Bow, N.H.) scored 48 and 40 goals, respectively.

Merrimack is led by junior middie Kelly Pasquantonio (Plainville, Mass.), who deposited 62 goals on her way to earning second-team All-America honors. The highest-scoring team in the NE-10 should get its defense bolstered by the arrival of junior goalie Jamie-Lee Whiteway (Billerica, Mass.), a transfer from the University of Massachusetts.

The Purple Knights of Saint Michael’s averaged nearly 14 goals a game last spring in going 9-7, and will turn to Kim Berlo (Scituate, Mass.) and Amanda Pelley (Mashpee, Mass.), who scored 39 and 31, respectively.

Bentley has 11 letterwinners back as it tries to improve on a 7-10 mark. Senior Alyssa Ritchie (45 goals, 78 points) and junior Jaclyn Griffin (50 goals, 71 points) should see plenty of defensive attention.

Saint Anselm (5-10), Southern Connecticut (3-13), Assumption (2-14), Franklin Pierce (3-12) and AIC (0-16) all struggled a year ago and will focus on improvement.