The Baldwin Wallace University Women’s Lacrosse team looks to shake the Ohio Athletic Conference this year. After coming in third place in the pre-season coaches poll for the second season in a row, the team and coaching staff were excited to be recognized in the top half of the conference but they still want to prove the competition wrong down the stretch of the season. Head coach Nicholle Shoger says, “Our team has been putting in a lot of time this fall, winter, and preseason and we’re ready to continue the success we had from last year’s season.”

The Yellow Jackets have a plethora of key returners, those of which include; senior attacker Brie Martineau, senior midfielder Jordan Paugh, senior defender Hannah Stein, senior midfielder Savanna Jaekle, junior defender/midfielder Christina Roskoph, junior midfielder Maddie Ray and finally junior goalkeeper Ashleigh Hildreth.

The season kicked off on Feb. 19 at George Finnie Stadium where the women defeated Ohio Wesleyan University by a final score of 13 to 8. Martineau led the team with four goals and one assist. The following Saturday, Feb. 22, the team traveled to Danville, Kentucky where they faced off against Centre College. The Yellow Jackets won that match up by a final score of 13 to 7. The offense was led by junior attacker Alexis O’Neill and Ray who both tallied a team-high points. Hildreth made eleven saves on eighteen total shots. The team took its first loss of the season on March 3^rd when they faced off against the College of Wooster. The final score was 20 to 15.

Key returner, Academic All-OAC defender/midfielder, Roskoph says, “After the first two games we were feeling really good, we came out really strong and really showed what BW lacrosse was all about,” Roskoph said. “Centre was good competition for us and I think it was a point where we really hit our stride. Wooster was a tough battle. We knew coming in we were going to have to give this game our all, and we ended up falling short. I think it was a good wake up call for us though to realize what we need to fix to move forward and continue to make a huge impact before we get into OAC play.”

Roskoph also touched on the importance of team chemistry and how that plays an essential role on the field. “Our chemistry is something our team has been working to improve on this entire year and recently I think our team has actually had a really amazing breakthrough in that aspect,” Roskoph said. “We really do love each other on and off the field. I feel as though my best friends are on this team and we spend a lot of time outside of practice just hanging out. On the field we have had huge improvement and nothing beats pre games in the locker room together”.

During the week of Feb. 24, Ashleigh Hildreth, who is an All-OAC goalkeeper, was named the OAC Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career at Baldwin Wallace University. In her team’s opening week of the 2020 season she showcased a 7.68 goals against average and a 55.9 save percentage. Hildreth is now ranked first in save percentage and second in goals against average across the Ohio Athletic Conference.

The Baldwin Wallace University Women’s Lacrosse team will be back in action on March 4 when they travel to Oberlin, Ohio for a non-conference game against Oberlin College at 5:00 pm on Fred Shults Field.

During Spring Break the team will travel to Virginia where they will take on Randolph-Macon College on March 7 at 7:00 pm, Bridgewater College on March 9 at 6:00 pm and University of Lynchburg on March 11^th at 4:00 pm.

Roskoph knows that the spring break trip will give the Yellow Jackets some tough battles, “Over spring break is going to be a great opportunity for us to learn how to adjust to good competition. We have to come out there strong, we’re obviously looking for wins but the most important about traveling to our competition is to take what we learn playing these competitive teams and apply it back to the conference games we will see at home,” Roskoph said. “We just have to keep playing our game and giving each game our all. Also spring break is always a great time to do team bonding and build on our team culture since we will be spending so much time with each other.”