Complete Women's Lacrosse Weekly Release in pdf format

Photos courtesy of Dartmouth Athletics Communications and Princeton Athletic Communications

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The first weekend of the 2013 Ivy League women’s lacrosse season is in the books. All eight teams opened their seasons and five came away with victories.

Harvard, Penn and Yale are still looking for their first wins of the season after falling to Stanford, Drexel and Holy Cross, respectively. Crimson freshman Alexis Nicolia kicked off her collegiate career with a bang, finishing with six points on five goals and an assist in a losing effort, as Harvard fell to the Cardinal in Palo Alto, Calif., 18-13.

The League saw three other players besides Nicolia tally at least six points in their first action of 2013. Columbia senior Kacie Johnson (five goals, two assists) and Cornell junior Rachel Moody (two goals, five assists) each recorded seven points to lead their squads to victory over Mount St. Mary’s and Canisius, while Brown junior Bre Hudgins (three goals, three assists) finished with six points in the Bears’ season-opening win at George Mason.

Dartmouth avoided the pitfalls of the Oregon Trail and defeated the Ducks, 8-7 in double-overtime. Junior goalie Kristen Giovanniello recorded six saves, including one in the first overtime to preserve the tie, and junior Liz Calby's second goal of the game came in the second OT and proved to be the gamewinner. Princeton doubled up on Villanova, 10-5, behind two goals and an assist from freshman Alexandra Bruno.

The upcoming week features a number of big games, including the first Ivy games of the season. On Saturday, Harvard will take on No. 16 Cornell, Columbia will face Brown and No. 12 Dartmouth will travel to Yale. The League’s non-conference action is highlighted by Princeton’s game against No. 15 Georgetown on Friday and No. 11 Penn’s contest against No. 5 UNC on Saturday.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Dartmouth senior Hana Bowers (Old Greenwich, Conn.) began her final campaign as a Big Green in fine fashion, finishing with a game-high four points on a game-high three goals and an assist, to lead her team to an 8-7 double-overtime victory at Oregon. Bowers assisted the gamewinner in the second OT, scooping up a groundball and finding teammate Liz Calby for the score.

Bowers takes home her first career Ivy League weekly award and becomes Dartmouth’s first Offensive Player of the Week since Kat Collins on March 28, 2011.

Bowers’ Weekly Stats
1 GP, 3G, 1A, 4 Pts., 1 GB, 4 DC, 1 CT, 60.0 Shooting % at Oregon

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Villanova sophomore Jackie Froccaro scored five goals in the Wildcats’ season-opener against Lehigh and was looking for more of the same against Princeton. She did not count on Tiger senior Caroline Rehfuss (Latham, N.Y.), however, who held Froccaro to a mere goal, on a free-position shot, in Princeton’s 10-5 victory. Rehfuss also assisted on the Tigers’ second goal of the game and finished with team-highs in caused turnovers (four) and groundballs (three).  

Rehfuss becomes the first Princeton Defensive Player of the Week who is not a goalie since Katie Cox earned the award as a midfielder on April 7, 2008. Rehfuss takes home her second career Ivy League weekly award after sharing Offensive Player of the Week honors with Cornell’s Jessi Steinberg on April 26, 2010.

Rehfuss’ Weekly Stats
1 GP, 1A, 1 Pt., 3 GB, 1 DC, 4 CT vs. Villanova

HONOR ROLL
Alexandra Bruno, Princeton (Fr., A – Garden City, N.Y.)
1 GP, 2G, 1A, 3 Pts., 1CT, 100.0 Shooting % vs. Villanova

Paige Cuscovitch, Columbia (Jr., M – Longmeadow, Mass.)
1 GP, 3G, 1A, 4 Pts., 4 GB, 4 DC, 3 CT, 42.9 Shooting % vs. Mount St. Mary’s

Marissa Dale, Brown (Jr., D – North Salem, N.Y.)
1 GP, 1 GB, 1 DC, 2 CT at George Mason

Jen DeVito, Yale (Jr., A – Wading River, N.Y.)
1 GP, 4G, 1A, 5 Pts., 2 GB, 1 DC, 80.0 Shooting % at Holy Cross

Bre Hudgins, Brown (Jr., A – Syracuse, N.Y.)
1 GP, 3G, 3A, 6 Pts., 4 DC, 50.0 Shooting % at George Mason

Kacie Johnson, Columbia (Sr., A – Wilton, Conn.)
1 GP, 5G, 2A, 7 Pts., 5 GB, 3 DC, 1 CT, 45.5 Shooting % vs. Mount St. Mary’s

Annie Meyjes, Harvard (So., GK – Darien, Conn.)
1 GP-1 GS, 60:00 Mins., 18 GA, 18.00 GAA, 14 Svs., 43.8 Sv. %, 3 GB, 0-1

Rachel Moody, Cornell (Jr., A – Burke, Va.)
1 GP, 2G, 5A, 7 Pts., 1 GB, 1 CT, 100.0 Shooting % at Canisius

Alexis Nicola, Harvard (Fr., A – Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.)
1 GP, 5G, 1 A, 6 Pts., 83.3 Shooting % at Stanford

Maddie Poplawski, Penn (Sr., M – Springfield, Pa.)
1 GP, 2G, 1A, 3 Pts., 1 GB, 1 DC, 1 CT, 66.7 Shooting % vs. Drexel

Lindsay Toppe, Cornell (So., A – Bedford, N.Y.)
1 GP, 4G, 3A, 7 Pts., 2 GB, 80.0 Shooting % at Canisius

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Wednesday, February 27
Yale at Quinnipiac, 3pm
New Hampshire at Dartmouth, 3pm
Columbia at Lafayette, 7pm

Friday, March 1
Princeton at No. 15 Georgetown, 4pm

Saturday, March 2
*Harvard at Cornell, 12pm
No. 5 North Carolina at Penn, 1pm
*Columbia at Brown, 1pm
*Dartmouth at Yale, 1pm

Sunday, March 3
USC at Princeton, 12 pm
Manhattan at Brown, 1pm

KEY
*-Ivy League contest