I jumped over to Villanova Stadium on Tuesday night to watch a women’s lacrosse game between Villanova and the U.S. Naval Academy. I was excited to watch this game since it is Navy’s first year as a D-1 program and I expected them to be good considering they have an all-star coaching staff lead by former University of Maryland coach Cindy Timchal.

I was not disappointed as Erin Rawlick scored seven goals to lead the U.S. Naval Academy to a 19-8 victory over the Villanova Wildcats. Navy improves to 13-3 with the triumph while the `Cats drop to 4-12 on the campaign. The Mids broke the NCAA record for wins by a first-year program with 13. The old record of 12, held by North Carolina in 1996. I love hearing and seeing records being broken.

Highlights from the game:

Navy seized the early edge with two goals in the first 3 minutes of the contest. Katrina Nietsch fired a shot past Wildcat goalie Maggie Langan and Rawlick then scored her first goal a minute later. But Villanova answered with a Taryn McKenna goal – of an assist from freshman Mia Naccarato - and one from the stick of junior Katie Stone to even things at two.

However, the Mids grabbed the lead for good at the 21 minute mark when Rawlick scored on a free position shot. Next, Mary Ruttum, Nietsch and Meg Decker added goals for Navy. Villanova’s, Stone scored her second goal of the contest of a feed from freshman Nora Wallace tot narrow the gap to 6-3.

Navy scored three more times while Villanova tallied just once over the final 10 minutes of the first half due to some great defense by the Mids. The half ended with the score of 9-4 in favor of the Mids.

Rawlick picked up two more goals to extend the lead to 11-4 early in the second half before McKenna got one back for the Wildcats to make it 11-5. Rawlick then scored two more and Amanda Towey added another to push the Navy advantage to 14-5 with 21 minutes left in the game. Wallace notched an unassisted goal on a long run off a draw control for Villanova. Samantha McKillip and McKenna rounded out the Villanova scoring.

The final score was 19-8 in favor of the Mids. Navy owned a 38-14 edge in shots on the night. Langan made three saves in net for Villanova while Natalie Blandon made three in net for Navy.






Erin Rawlick was in a zone on Tuesday evening. The Navy sophomore scored seven goals for the Mids. Watch as she discusses the secrets to her success on the field.










Meg Decker continued to light up the scoreboard as the Freshman notched her 13th hat trick in a row. Watch as she explains why Navy was successful and what's it is like to be a freshman on the team.










Freshman Katrina Nietsch scored four points, including three goals in the win. Watch as she talks about her success and the Navy's victory.

I'm not sure what game I will be at next, but stay tuned for more action!

After a summer jam-packed with lacrosse camps and clinics, I swore I was going to take a break from the sport for a bit when I arrived in California. As it turns out, that break consisted of a nine-day stretch in October where I wasn’t actively involved in any form of lacrosse. What can I say: my name is Sara Allen and I’m an addict? It’s possible. I do really enjoy giving back to the sport that gave me so much, though, so when the opportunity to coach the SD Rip Elite team for Starz Lacrosse presented itself, I took it.

There are two SD Rip teams, Elite and Developmental, which are made up of the top high school lacrosse players throughout the greater San Diego area. Most of the players have aspirations to play at the college level so our mission is not only to develop and train them as players, but also to get them recruited and ready to play on the next level.

After several weeks of practice we had our first test in the Starz Lacrosse play day at Rancho Bernardo High School. Our first game against Quad Cities Elite team went well and we dominated most of the game. The girls gave me a bit of scare at the end when Quad Cities Elite went on a run and scored three unanswered goals to pull within three, 12-9, with five minutes left in the game--an interesting situation, but one I’ve been in as both a player and a coach many times before. Since the Quad Cities Elite team had the momentum with so little time left, I had to make sure the girls kept composure and possession for as long as possible. In order to do that, winning the draw was necessary. Therefore, I strategically placed our fastest and scrappiest girls on the circle to ensure we maintained possession and moved the ball into our offensive end.  Once in our offensive end the game plan was to work the ball around the outside several times, which would waste time off the clock and allow us to gain confidence before attacking the net. After all, if we have possession of the ball the other team can’t score. The plan worked and we ended up winning 13-9. Phew!

We had 10 minutes to regroup before our next game against the Lax Dawgs Elite team and unfortunately, 10 minutes didn’t seem to be enough time for us to regain our strength and energy.  The first half was pretty ugly and we were down by 6 goals at half time.  After a long talk at half time, we took the field with a passion to play, which we lacked in the first half.  We scored two unanswered goals in the first five minutes and started to play well together again. Our passes were crisp and accurate, and we came up with several big game-changing plays. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to come back and we ended up losing by 1 goal.  I was proud of the girls though; they played their hearts out in the second half and were very close to pulling off a great comeback win. We’ll get them next time!

I was really impressed with how coachable the girls were this weekend and how much heart they showed. I had such a great time coaching them and can’t wait to get back to practice this week. Who needs breaks from lacrosse anyway?

A funny side note: After the games, a few of the girls were talking about coaching middle school lacrosse and how they wanted to be “cool” coaches that their players would look up to.  I overheard them and put in my two cents – be passionate and believe in what you do and say, but most importantly, invest in a great pair of sunglasses and wear them at all times. I don’t know about other sports, but I do know that lacrosse coaches wear their sunglasses no matter what the weather and will never leave home without them. I am one of them.

Here is a video from the SD Rip Developmental team game...

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For more information on Starz Lacrosse teams and for registration info please visit Starz Lacrosse Club :: California, Arizona, Seattle, Texas and more!