March 28, 2003

Saturday's game marks the first encounter between Manhattan and Stony Brook, but there is a history lesson to be learned. Head Coach Danie Caro has ties to the Jaspers as she helped set the foundation of the women's lacrosse program at Manhattan College as the Jasper's head coach in their first year of Division I play in 1997. Although today marks the first time the Seawolves and the Jaspers will officially meet on the turf, the two did clash in Stony Brook's fall tournament in October of 2002. The Jaspers attended along with Albany and Monmouth.

The Conference Crystal Sall The Seawolves have been picked to finish fifth this year in the America East Conference. Defending America East champion Boston University has been chosen to repeat as conference champions as the Terriers received four of a possible six first-place votes and 34 points overall. University of New Hampshire, the regular-season champion last year, was chosen second with two first-place votes and 32 points overall.

Last Time Out Sophomore JoAnn Montesarchio buried two of her four goals just three minutes into the game to pace the Sacred Heart women's lacrosse team to a 15-2 win over Stony Brook University Tuesday afternoon. The Pioneers built a 10-2 halftime lead and held the Seawolves scoreless in the second half to pick up their second straight win and improve to 3-2 on the year.

Three-For-Three The Seawolves are on a roll with the America East, racking up three weekly honors in as many weeks. Freshman Marissa Trachtenberg has landed America East Rookie of the Week honors twice (March 13, 15) and senior Beth Arikian was named the conference Defensive Player of the Week on Mar. 24. Arikian scooped up 15 ground balls and caused five turnovers in the Seawolves' three games last week and she leads the America East with 5.40 ground balls per game. Trachtenberg was honored after she scored six goals and tallied two assists in the 14-12 win over Howard and her performance Sunday against the Long Island University Blackbirds. She helped lead the team to the victory by scoring a hat-trick that included the game-winning goal. Trachtenberg broke the 6-6 tie with her goal with just 3:16 remaining in the game after LIU tied the contest at 6-6 at the 3:32 mark in the second half.

Manhattan Happenings The Manhattan College women's lacrosse team lost 14-3 to Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, Md. The Lady Jaspers fall to 1-4 overall, while the Mount captured their first victory of the season for a 1-6 overall record.

Head Honcho When Danie Caro was named the head women's lacrosse coach at Stony Brook University in July, she faced a familiar task - taking the reigns of a brand-new Division I women's lacrosse program. After overseeing the transition from club team to varsity status at both St. Bonaventure University and Manhattan College, Caro now prepares to take that shift one step further as she will craft the Seawolves program from scratch.

An Eye On The Future The 2003 America East Women's Lacrosse Championship will be decided Saturday, May 3. The semifinals are set for Thursday, May 1. The four-team tournament will be held at home field of the No. 1 seed from the regular-season standings.

Six America East member institutions - University at Albany, Binghamton University, Boston University, University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook University and University of Vermont - will compete for the four championship berths.

The winner of the America East Championship receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship. The five teams will each play a five-game regular-season conference schedule.

Boston University won its second championship in three seasons last year with an 11-5 win over top seed and host New Hampshire.