The Review

Issue date: 4/17/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Courtesy of Amanda Jones Freshman midfielder Amanda Jones is leading the Hens in draw controls with 21 on the season.

The average college athlete begins his or her freshman season expecting to get minimal playing time and "ride the pine" until seniors graduate and leave open positions for them to fill.

For four freshmen on the women's lacrosse team (6-4, 2-1 Colonial Athletic Association), that time came a few seasons early.

Attackmen Nicole Flego and Courtney Aburn, along with midfielders Emily Schaknowski and Amanda Jones, have filled starting positions nearly all season and rank among the top scorers on the team.

Head coach Kim Ciarrocca said she knew the freshmen she recruited were skilled, but did not expect to have such a young group of starters.

"I thought they would contribute, but I didn't expect them to play as much as they have," Ciarrocca said.

She said the freshmen occupy a wide range of roles on the team - Jones doing the "dirty work" by getting the ground balls and leading in draw control, Schaknowski uses speed and assists to complement the scoring power of Flego and Aburn.

Ciarrocca said she realized the skill level of her freshmen starters in the first game of the season against Penn State.

"We were down 9-1 at one point," she said. "We ended up losing 15-10, but you could see them coming back and battling."

The same week, Flego won CAA Rookie of the Week - the first of two times during the season she would receive the award. Aburn has also won the award twice, most recently this past week.

Flego, currently leading the team with 26 goals and 16 assists, said her performance in the season opener against Penn State gave her confidence for the rest of the year.

"I got my first collegiate goal that game, which also happened to be the first team goal of the season," Flego said. "I thought 'Wow I have four more years of this.' "

She said the game gave her the confidence that comes with on-field experience, experience that most other freshmen do not get.

"Having that extra year of experience will help me play a role on the team in the future because I've seen it before and it gives me the upper hand coming in to next year," Flego said.

Aburn said she did not come to school this year expecting to start, or even play as much as she has, but started to realize she would during the offseason. Aburn is fourth on the team in scoring with 30 points, including 23 goals.

"I'm very lucky that I have the opportunity to play this year," she said. "Some coaches wouldn't even consider playing freshmen."

Ciarrocca said the performance of this year's freshmen has helped attract recruits and possibly an even stronger freshman class next year.

"We signed 14 freshmen, 11 of whom were first-team all-Americans," she said. "Once you start winning, the rest of it takes care of itself."

The team is looking to win the last four conference games left in the regular season, which would put them at No. 2 behind James Madison in the Colonial Athletic Association. According to Flego, more of the same effort and continuing to play as a team will carry them to the top of the CAA, and possibly even further.

"If we do [win the CAA], we could definitely do some damage," Flego said.

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