Women’s lacrosse falls to Holy Cross Crusaders

On Wednesday, the University of Hartford’s women’s lacrosse team took on the Holy Cross Crusaders. The Crusaders are under Head Coach Amanda Belichick, daughter of New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick.

Still unable to grab their first win of the season, the Hawks put up a fight and lost 21-9. During the game, sophomore Kaitlyn D’Andrea captured a season-high of 11 draw controls to pace the Hawks in the midfield. Much like other games this season, the Hawks started off slow and allowed the Crusaders to make it four to nothing within the first five minutes of the game. Megan Miller, a sophomore out of Ballston Spa, N.Y., put the ball in the back of the net first to pace the Hartford offense.

Within the first half, Holy Cross outshot the Hawks and went into halftime with a 15-5 lead. Compared to their inaugural season in 2018, the team has been scoring a lot more with a least nine points in last two games. Scorers for the Hawks include D’Andrea with two goals and one assist, senior Billy McLaughlin and sophomore Emily Steele with one goal and one assist each, Debbie Phillips with one goal and Miller with three goals. One thing that goes unnoticed is the difference between the Hawks’ first and second half scores. When their opponents put in their freshmen and sophomores, Hartford usually wins the second half.

As a second-year program, the future only looks bright for the team. Following their game at Siena on Wednesday, March 13, the Hawks travel to Delaware and Maryland to take on Delaware State and Wofford. The match up against Wofford on Saturday, March 16 at noon will take place at the US Lacrosse Headquarters, a first for the Hawks. Following these games, the team enters their conference play with the first game again UVM who beat them last season.