GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Finishing runner-up on the Gettysburg College athletic department’s top-10 moments of 2008-09 is the women’s lacrosse team, which put together a remarkable season despite the odds, culminating in an upset victory over host The College of New Jersey in the NCAA regional finals.
After graduating one of the most talented classes in school history in 2008, Gettysburg entered 2009 with more questions than answers. The team was young, featuring only one senior on the roster, and there were no returning All-Americans for the first time in a decade.
None of those issues seemed to phase the Bullets, however, as the team won the first 10 games of the season and finished runner-up in the Centennial Conference behind eventual national champion Franklin & Marshall College. Receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, Gettysburg tore through Roanoke College to set up a regional finale against host and fourth-ranked TCNJ.
TCNJ ended had won 10 of 12 prior meetings and had ended Gettysburg’s season-opening winning streak, but Bullets Head Coach
Carol Cantele believed her team was confident and ready for the rematch.
“I think they recognized we lost a winnable game first time around and that we were the ones that could change the outcome,” said Cantele. “I think our players focused on themselves this time and played Gettysburg lacrosse.”
Gettysburg came out hungry and maintained the upper-hand until early in the second stanza, when a free position goal gave the Lions a 7-6 edge. That would be TCNJ’s first and only lead as the Bullets answered with back-to-back free position goals, and following a brief eight-all tie, knocked in another pair of goals to seal the deal.
Goalie
Kristen Krammer (Woodbine, Md./Glenelg) came up big for Gettysburg with a pair of saves in the final minute, while Cantele cited the play of
Heidi Bitter (Darien, Conn./Westminster), who scored two of the last three goals, as a key factor in the victory. But it was the effort of the entire team that shined that day, lifting the Bullets into the NCAA semis for the third time in four seasons.
“For the first time all season, I think our team played for each other and within themselves for 60 minutes,” said Cantele. “They picked each other up and they played for their teammates. You could see that they truly believed in each other. There were many players on our team that day that took it to a whole other level, one that we hadn't seen all season.”
