The Mary Washington College women's lacrosse team's 1998 season showed flashes of brilliance, despite returning just one senior and three juniors from the school's first conference title the year before. The Eagles suffered several key injuries to two of its top scorers, yet still finished the regular season as the top seed in the Capital Athletic Conference's playoffs.
Leading the way for Coach Hall's stickers was rising senior captain Melissa Ballance, who was named second team All-America by the USWLA and third team from the IWLCA. Ballance, a midfielder, scored a team-high 30 goals and added eleven assists on the year, picking up a team- high 59 ground balls and adding 40 caused turnovers and 21 draw controls. She was also named first team all-region and first team all-CAC and was a finalist for the CAC Player of the Year.
Rising junior Sara Andersen was the team's leading scorer, picking up 28 goals and 25 assists in 13 games, before suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the regular-season finale in a 9-8 win at St. Mary's. Andersen, who was named second team all-region and first team all-CAC, had 75 draw controls, 56 caused turnovers, and 43 ground ball controls. Also collecting numerous post-season accolades was rising senior captain Aimee Seward, who as a defender made second team all-region and first team all-conference, Seward, who usually marked the opponents' best scorer, collected 35 ground balls and caused 30 turnovers while shutting down some of the top scorers in the nation.
Joining Ballance, Andersen, and Seward on the all-CAC team was graduated senior defender Alexis Kingham (32 ground balls, 34 caused turnovers), rising junior goalkeeper Jen Williams and rising junior attack Lauren Nichols, who was third on the team in scoring, with 29 goals and added eight assists.
With Kingham the lone graduating senior, MWC will look to make another NCAA Tournament run with a relatively young team. In addition to Ballance and Seward, senior midfielder Whitney Ziskal (seven goals, three assists in '98) rounds out the class of '99. Returning attacks include Andersen, Nichols, Bridget Geiman (15 goals, 12 assists in six games), Janet Emery, Melanie Hayes, and Karen Slostsky.
The midfield will see Ballance, Ziskal, Jenny Foy (14 goals, 13 assists), Allyson Bristor, Diane Grimm (16 goals, six assists), Kelli Brittain, and Thanh Do return for action in 1999, while Seward, Allison Hamilton and soph Kate Weller return on defense. Returning goalies include Williams and Alex Racanelli. With a talented veteran cast, the Eagles will still rely on another top recruiting year. If the newcomers can make an impact, the Eagles hope to be in contention for one of 12 NCAA Tournament bids in 1999.