The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Nick Hart Jill Cerar carries the ball in UConn's win over Louisville on March 29. The sophomore midfielder has six goals on the season.

Heading into the season, UConn women's lacrosse knew that it was going to be a year of transition. Sitting at 2-3 in the Big East (2-11 overall), the Huskies realize that, despite their struggles, they still have a chance to advance to the conference tournament.

The past two weekends have been two completely different stories for the Huskies, who won their first pair of games at the end of March, only to be blown out in a pair of road games last weekend against nationally ranked Loyola and Georgetown.

On Saturday, UConn will look to get back to .500 in conference play when they host Rutgers (6-8, 2-3) at 1 p.m. The game will feature a change of scenery, as the team will play its first game of the season at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium, where they have a 26-31 all-time record.

"We got a taste of winning two weeks ago, and don't want to settle," said midfielder Whitney Michele. "[Last weekend's losses] were tough, but it's time to move on. If we execute, we can beat Rutgers."

The Scarlet Knights are working on a mini-winning streak, having won their last two games. They are led by junior Brooke Cantwell, who has scored 29 goals through the team's first 14 games. Cantwell has started every game in her three years at Rutgers, but made a name for herself during last season, her sophomore campaign. She led the team in scoring with 36 goals, en route to being named to the All-Big East First Team, as well as the All-Big East Tournament Team.

In stopping Cantwell and the rest of the Rutgers attack, the UConn defense will continue to lean on freshman goaltender Anna Wallingford. Despite the high outputs of Loyola (17 goals) and Georgetown (19) a week ago, Wallingford still led the conference in saves, making 10 against the Greyhounds and 15 against the Hoyas.

In order to take pressure off of Wallingford and the Husky defense, the offense will need to pick up some slack and control the tempo of the game.

"We can't allow Rutgers to get that many shots off," said Michele. "If we play our game and execute like we know we can, we'll be able to keep them off the board."

Along with Michele, the Huskies will lean on the scoring ability of freshmen M.E. Lapham and Kiersten Tupper as they look to best Rutgers goalie Sandra Abel and her .460 save percentage.

Just in their first year of collegiate lacrosse, Lapham and Tupper have proved to be two of UConn's most prolific scorers. Tupper leads the team in points (43) and assists (24) while Lapham's 26 goals are second only to Michele's 29.

"As a team, we don't ever think we're overmatched," Michele said. "But coming off of a weekend against two really tough teams, we know how important it's going to be to give our best effort on Saturday."

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