Prior to the 1986-87 lacrosse season, Mary Washington College's women's lacrosse coach, Beth Hollibaugh, said, "If we don't do it this year, we're not going to do it ... " in reference to the Eagles coming away with an ECAC championship. Unfortunately, while the Eagles played almost flawless lacrosse all season, other teams didn't play well enough to qualify for the ECAC tournament; therefore, the Eagles did not get a post-season tournament opportunity despite a 12-4 record. Two of the Eagle losses were to NCAA tournament selections Johns Hopkins and Western Maryland.
Yet, the Eagles had their most successful season ever. It featured the proper balance of offense and defense, skill and luck, hard work and momentum. After winning their first contest of the season, the Eagles dropped their next two. However, after a 9-6 loss at Western Maryland, Mary Washington went on a team record l l-game winning streak and finished with a 124 record for the year.
In addition to the fine team record, many post-season individual honors were still forthcoming. Senior Pam Heller, the second leading all-time Division III goal-scorer in a single season and career, was named First Team All-American for the second straight season. She was also named First Team All-Region and selected to play in the Hall of Fame Lacrosse Classic. This was a post-season All-Star game that featured approximately 30 of Division I's finest, along with three or four players from Division Ill, including Heller.
Also named to All-American teams were right defense wing, senior Rene Thomas, and goalie, junior Sharon Eliasek. Thomas was voted to the Second Team while Eliasek picked up an Honorable Mention. Both were voted to First Team All-Region, as was first home, senior Tricia Cassidy. Senior point, Mary Rooney was voted Honorable Mention All-Region.
The offense scored 146 goals during the season and had seven players score in double figures for total points. Heller's 53 goals and 13 assists led the group, followed by Cassidy with 20 goals and a team record 29 assists. The other five double-digit scorers were led by Dana Huestis with 31 goals and 13 assists, followed by Jennie Roak with 10 goals and nine assists. Freshman Suzy Baughman had 13 goals and four assists, followed by Lee Ann Baker who had six goals and six assists, and Emily Nack with six goals and five assists.
While much of the time it was the Eagles' offensive prowess that grabbed the headlines, on many occasions the defense was equally outstanding. The defense allowed 10 or more goals only three times and and gave up six or less 11 times. Along with All-American and All-Region performances from Thomas, Eliasek and Rooney, also performing
in the clutch were seniors Anne Zemienieuski and Sara Reister, as well as junior goalie, Kris Neary. While Eliasek got the majority of the playing time, and came away with a .676 save percentage, Neary performed just as admirably with a save percentage of .761, allowing three goals a game in five outings.
The team played above .500 on the road (5-3) and posted a remarkable record at home, winning seven of eight. Yet, while so often would be the case in a team hoping for other teams to lose in order to qualify for the playoffs, the Eagles were hoping for teams to win - so there would-be playoffs. Although the other teams failed and the season didn't end the way the Eagles hoped, who can complain about a record-setting 124 season, a record-setting l l-game winning streak, a team that (during the season) ranked as high as seventh in the nation by the Division III Brine Poll, a team that had two goalies with a combined goals against average of 5.8 and a save percentage of .694, a team on which the 146 goals and the 85 assists were shared by 10 players (signifying exceptional balance), or a team that featured five All-Region players and three All-Americans.