After posting a strong fourth-place finish at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament last weekend, the UC Davis women’s lacrosse team closed out its 2009 season with a 17-11 loss at the hands of Louisville on Saturday at Aggie Stadium.
It was Senior Day for attacker Patrice Clark and midfielder Eri Ichikawa. The two served as team leaders, setting the example for a young UC Davis roster.
“Both of them have just been so positive this year,” coach Elaine Jones said. “They’re definitely both leaders. I think the girls really enjoyed playing with them.“
The Aggies were paced Saturday by Britt Farquharson and Molly Lapolla, who found the back of the Cardinals‘ net four times apiece in the rain-soaked affair.
Christina Corsa, Gina Hoffmire and Molly Peterson each added a goal to round out the UC Davis scoring on the day.
Down 9-4 at halftime, UC Davis finished out its season with a strong second-half showing. It was outscored by a single goal in the second session, 8-7.
As the Aggies reflect on their season, they have a chance to look back at achievement as well as disappointment.
UC Davis got the season off to a good start by going 2-2 in the month of February. That stretch opened with a loss at Oregon on Valentine’s Day, but included a gritty win eight days later at St. Mary’s in overtime.
The Aggies proceeded to drop their next six games, the last five of which were against tough East Coast competition.
The losing streak ended with the Aggies‘ last game of back-to-back East Coast roadies as they knocked off Central Connecticut State.
After a sudden-victory time loss to Villanova, UC Davis wrapped up its East Coast swing with a win over Howard in the nation’s capital.
UC Davis reopened play at Aggie Stadium after nearly three weeks on the road. The Aggie homecoming was not a welcome one as conference foe Denver posted an 18-5 victory.
After a non-conference win over fellow MPSF team St. Mary’s, the Aggies headed to Palo Alto on Apr. 23 to begin conference tournament play against Denver.
UC Davis was looking to avenge its loss to the Pioneers that happened just 11 days prior. The Aggies put together their best performance of the season, upsetting the nationally-ranked club.
“That was an amazing game,” Jones said. “It was the best we’ve ever played. We played a full 60 minutes against a top-25 team.“
The Aggies went on to lose to defending MPSF champion and tournament host Stanford in the semifinals, but the loss could not sour the taste of victory.
Saturday’s loss to the Cardinals officially brought the Aggies‘ season to an end. Louisville is a second-year program, playing its first official season as a member of the Big East Conference. It’s already received votes for a national ranking.
While the season may be over and Clark and Ichikawa’s careers have come to a close, the Aggies feel they have something to be excited about heading into the 2010 season.
“I think we’re in a great position for next year,” Jones said. “We have three seniors next year and nine juniors. We have a great freshman class coming in that we’re excited about.“
JOHN S. HELLER can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
