Revamped Gophers Begin 2014 Season this Saturday

TOWSON, Md. — With the start of the 2014 season now only hours away, there are several undeniable challenges facing the Goucher women's lacrosse program.

Hannah Khin, who led the team in scoring in each of her last three seasons and ranks fifth in team history with 204 career goals, is gone. So is the team's four-year starter in goal, Ashley Shaner, as well as starting defensemen Hannah Frallicciardi and Regan Foy.

These losses, along with the daunting task of entering a season with only 11 players on the roster, could certainly be seen as viable reasons for any potential struggles early on. First-year head coach Ceri Miller, though, believes that her team has the ability to accomplish plenty, and the Gophers will get their first chance to prove themselves with a 1 p.m. home matchup against Bridgewater (Va.) this Saturday.

"We have talked a lot about building the foundation and establishing the culture for upcoming years," Miller said. "We're not going to use numbers as an excuse at any point in the season. We just have to play smart and make sure we're using our energy in the right ways."

One immediate change that the former assistant at Dickinson hopes to implement is increasing the overall team involvement on the offensive side of the field. Goucher scored only 14 fewer goals than its opponents during a 7-9 campaign last year, but managed just 18 assists on the season and will look to move the ball around with more frequency in 2014.

"I think last year, and in year's prior, it was often a one person, run-and-gun sort of team," Miller remarked. "This year, we're trying to put equal amounts of ownership on different individual players. It's definitely going to be more of a team effort this season."

The Gophers have plenty of scoring options returning from last season, as all five leading scorers below Khin will be back this spring. Erin Reifsnyder (Austin, Texas/St. Andrew's Episcopal), Anneke Ossorio (Lafayette, Colo./Kent Denver School) and Hannah Mae Brown (Pinedale, Wyo./Dunn School), who each earned second-team all-Landmark recognition in 2013, headline that group.

Reifsnyder was second on the team with 49 goals in her junior season. She also led the squad in free position goals (19), ground balls (53) and caused turnovers (37). Ossorio, who paced the team with 53 draw controls, added 21 goals while Brown chipped in 12 goals and 26 caused turnovers.

Miller additionally expects key contributions from Megan Meluskey (Wilmington, Del./Concord) and Rita Meissner (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers), the remaining pair from that group of five.

"Megan has done an awesome job in the preseason," she said. "Both with her stick work and her shot selection. I think she'll help us out both on the offensive end and in the midfield. And Rita has done a great job leading the offense."

On the other side of the field, the Gophers will turn to junior Emily Gill (White Hall, Md./North Harford) to replace Shaner. Gill started all 16 games in the field last season, but she did make five appearances in goal as a freshman in 2012, making 12 saves and registering a 9.41 goals-against average in just over 100 minutes of action.

Goucher began last season strong, winning six of its first eight games, but struggled after entering conference play. The Gophers, who are looking for their first Landmark win since April 23, 2011, will have two additional opportunities this year with Elizabethtown and Merchant Marine joining the conference for women's lacrosse. The Landmark coaches projected Goucher to finish sixth out of the seven teams in their preseason poll. Defending champions Susquehanna were selected to repeat, while Merchant Marine slotted in behind the Gophers.

"I do think we can be successful in the conference," Miller said. "But we have to play our game. We have to play smart on both ends and avoid unforced turnovers in transition.

"We have an awesome group of girls," she concluded. "I have run them into the ground, but they have continued to work really hard and are forming a tremendous bond. They know the situation that they're in, they know what it's going to take to be successful, and they are doing a great job together so far."