In just their second season, Suffolk women’s lacrosse has achieved their first playoff berth in program history. Suffolk will take on Johnson and Wales University Saturday April 25, in a win or go home match up.
The Rams finished with an overall record of 8-9 and a conference record of 5-5. This was enough to give the Rams the sixth seed in a dramatic fashion. With two games left in the season Suffolk sat on the outside of the playoffs looking in as the eighth seed.
A big conference win against Nichols College powered by seven points from attacker Bridget O’Leary vaulted Suffolk into the sixth seed. With a head to head victory against the University of New England earlier in the season, the Rams had the tie breaker needed for their first taste of post season play.
Suffolk has been a good offensive team all year long ending the regular season ranked fourth in the conference in total goals. What Suffolk has been looking for is defensive consistency and it seems they found it at the right time. Suffolk finished the season ranked sixth in the conference in average goals scored against.
The Rams have found this consistency at the perfect time. Over the last month the Rams have held their conference opponents under ten goals three times in five games. They were undefeated in those three games. They averaged just six goals against in those wins, and Goalie Charlotte Guziejka was recognized for her efforts as she took home CNE defensive player of the week in that stretch.
The defense will be put to the test against JWU. The Wildcats scored the second most goals in the conference and have three players that rank top ten in the conference in goals per game.
Their top scorer Riley Shepley ranks third in the conference in goals per game, so limiting her and the rest of the Wildcat offense will be no easy task. However, JWU ranks eighth in the conference in assists. If Suffolk can win their one on one match ups on defensive they can be successful in limiting high volume scoring.
On the offensive side of the ball, Suffolk will look to keep up the high octane scoring that has driven their success this season. While JWU has been an offensive powerhouse, they have not been very good defensively. Ranking seventh in the conference in goals against average.
The Rams have shown they have the ability to exploit this weakness. O’leary, Julia Dickinson, Carly Ewha and Zoe Peckham have been tremendous on offense all season long. All four finished with 50 or more points on the year. O’Leary ranks top ten in the conference in both goals and assists per game.
Suffolk will need a strong offensive performance in order to come away with a win in their first playoff game. The Rams have outperformed expectations all season long and will need to do so again to steal a victory as under dogs on the road versus the wild cats.
