The Daily Campus

Issue date: 3/30/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Erin Odell Whitney Michele, who scored the game-winner Sunday against Louisville, advances the ball in Friday's victory over Big East rival Cincinnati.

The last time the women's lacrosse team won back-to-back Big East games, most of the current UConn roster were too young to get into an R-rated movie.

Coming off of an 11-9 win against Cincinnati on Friday, Whitney Michele's unassisted goal with 18 seconds remaining against Louisville on Sunday gave the Huskies (2-9, 2-1) their first two victories of the season and won consecutive in-conference games for the first time since 2005.

"All through our slow start, we knew that we were going to put everything together and get some wins," Michele said following the 8-7 win.  "The defense played well, and we scored some timely goals and got a couple of wins."

Freshman attacker M.E. Lapham put on a scoring display in the first half, scoring three of the team's six goals before the break.  Heading into the second period with a 6-5 advantage, the Huskies slowed the tempo and turned the game into a defensive struggle.  After scoring with five minutes to go in the first, the Cardinals went on a 25-minute scoring drought.  Freshman goalie Anna Wallingford finished the game with eight saves on 15 shots, stifling the powerful Louisville attack.

"We had a little bit of trouble scoring in the second half," Laura Eichert said.  "But we kept a really high level of energy, matched their effort on defense and got a big win."

On Friday, the Huskies jumped out to an early, 6-1 lead and continued to dominate throughout the first half.  Lapham finished the game with four goals, and fellow freshman Kiersten Tupper recorded five points, scoring twice and dishing out three assists.

The Huskies went into the break with a 9-3 lead, and were able to stave off a comeback attempt from the Bearcats.  Their attack was led by Lindsay Marshal, who scored a career-high five goals on just seven shot attempts in the loss. 

"It got a little closer than we wanted it to be in the second," Eichert said.  "But we were able to fight them off and get our first win."

For the Huskies, the pair of wins may prove to be the turning point of what had been a very disappointing start to their season.  "I'd be lying if I said the losing didn't start getting to us," Eichert said.  "We knew we were better than our record was showing, and that we were going to get on track."

The Huskies picked a good time to do so, as they are just about their 2-1 Big East record makes their overall 2-9 mark seem like a thing of the past.

"It's still early, but we have a winning record in conference play, and have momentum on our side," Michele said.  "We just need to keep working hard and more wins will come."

The team will have the opportunity to extend its win streak to three games when it travels to Baltimore to take on Big East rival Loyola, the No. 13 team in the nation, on Friday.

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