LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University women's lacrosse team begins its 10th season on intercollegiate competition this coming weekend as the Bearcats travel to Indianapolis, Ind., to play non-conference in-region matches against two nationally-ranked opponents at Key Stadium on the UIndy campus.
The Bearcats begin the 2022 season with a 1 p.m. ET game against preseason nationally-No. 2 ranked Indianapolis on Friday, Feb. 18, before facing preseason nationally-No. 25 ranked Davenport at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 20.
"We are really excited for the season. We open up really big with two ranked opponents this weekend," McKendree women's lacrosse coach Melissa Gyllenborg said. "We always like a good challenge and to put ourselves in the position to play the best teams in the country and this weekend will be nothing different."
McKendree's 2022 team return nearly 47 percent of their goal scorers and 58 percent of their point scorers (goals and assists) from the 2021 season as the returning players from last season combined to score 93 goals and 165 points and Gyllenborg expects her offense to be strong this season.
"We're looking really great offensively as we return a lot of top players, but defensively, we graduated a pretty big group, but the underclassmen from last year and some freshmen that have come this year have really stepped up to the plate and will be big impact players this season," Gyllenborg added.
Gyllenborg's eighth McKendree team welcomes back four returning All-Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) performers from a season ago as the top returner for the Bearcats is junior attacker Kat Albrecht (Louisville, Ky./Eastern), who was a First-Team All-GLVC and Second-Team IWLCA All-Midwest Region selection in 2001, after recording scoring 41 goals and recorded a team-best 48 assists for 89 points.
"Kat so far is looking great in practice in the preseason. She is able to produce both goals and assists and is a triple-threat type of player and is also a great leader on the field," said Gyllenborg when asked about Albrecht. "Her playing ability has continued to improve and I think this year is going to be big year for her."
In addition to Albrecht, the other returning All-GLVC performers are junior goalie Clara Andrews (St. Louis, Mo./Nerinx Hall), junior defender/midfielder Brittany Koch (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Bloomfield Hills) and junior attacker Sydney Tiemann (Eureka, Mo./Eureka). Andrews, Koch and Tiemann were Honorable Mention All-GLVC selections in 2021.
"Clara is our top goalie and is just playing the best she's ever played right now. She is looking really solid, makes both great saves and great clears," Gyllenborg said. "Brittany plays both in the midfield and as a defender and is one of our top returning defenders from last season."
Tiemann scored 38 goals and added five assists for a total of 43 points. In addition to Tiemann, Koch was one of the top defenders last season as she had 14 ground balls and caused eight turnovers, while Andrews played all but 51-plus minutes in net for the Bearcats and allowed 167 goals and made 106 saves and posted a 9-4 record.
"Sydney is just a powerful player offensively. She is difficult to guard, has a great, quick first step and dodging ability and is a good finisher at the net," the coach said about Tiemann.
Another key returning player Gyllenborg mentioned was graduate student midfielder Oriana Johnson (Monticello, Minn./Monticello).
"Oriana is our top midfielder and she has been able to produce much more offensively so far this preseason. Defensively, she has always been very sound, but she is really connecting on the offense end of the field," the McKendree coach added.
Along with top returners already mentioned, Gyllenborg says there are several other returners and newcomers that she expects to step up and play a role this season.
Among those players Gyllenborg mentioned were junior midfielder/defender Molly Muennich (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy), freshman attacker Mya Cobb (Newbergh, Ind./Castle), sophomore defender Olivia Julian (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) and freshman attacker Sophia Scheller (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette).
"Molly (Muennich) is stepping into a midfield role this season as she has always been a low defender and she is doing a great job adapting to her new role," said Gyllenborg. "Mya is an attacker and is really putting herself into position to be a goal scorer this season. OJ has really stepped up as she used to be an attacker but has put the team on her shoulders to change her position and fill some gaps we needed and Sophia as a freshman is looking pretty promising as an attacker."
One position that appears set this season is goalie as Andrews is the returning starter at goalie, while her primary back-up from last season, Gretchen Kuhn (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood), also returns.
"Clara is looking great so far this season. I think as a goalie, it's a team effort, the goalies have to support each other as it is the hardest position as all eyes are on you and you're the last line of defense to try and stop the ball from going through the net," the coach added. "They are a great team and are super supportive of each other and both goalies are very good."
One player Gyllenborg singled out that she expects to benefit this season from a position change is Julian, who moves from being an attacker last season to a defender this season.
"Olivia (Julien) has really stepped up to the plate. We changed her position from attack to defense and she has been a big-time contributor during practice. We see a lot of the defensive stops, ground balls, or all those hustle plays, she's incorporated herself into to taking over and kind of controlling the defensive unit in that sense," added Gyllenborg.
Once again this season, Gyllenborg's team has scheduled a tough non-conference slate of games to help prepare her team for the rigors of the Great Lakes Valley Conference that features the Top 2 teams in the Preseason ILWomen/IWLCA Division II Top 25 poll – Lindenwood and Indianapolis. Lindenwood is the defending NCAA Division II National Championship, while UIndy, advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2021.
"I like to put the team in the position to be challenged and to rise to the occasion, to become a top team, a top five program in the country or competing with the reigning national champions and there is no better way to do that than to play caliber of teams on your schedule," Gyllenborg added when asked about her 2022 schedule.
One of the biggest losses for the Bearcats from last season is the graduation of Rylee Skachenko, who was one of the team's top draw-takers in 2021.
Skachenko's loss might not be as severe as it normally might have been as the NCAA has changed the rules on the draw in 2022 as there will be no more re-draws as in the past. This season, the official can determine which player did an illegal movement to do not allow for the draw to take place or if the officials can't determine that, then it is just an alternating possession based on an arrow and a coin flip from the beginning of the game.
Gyllenborg also said another new rule this season is that possession clock that used to always reset to 90, will now not get set back to 90, it will only be reset to 60 once it drops below 60.
In the Preseason GLVC poll, the Bearcats were tabbed to finish third as they earned 36 points from the league's head coaches and the league once again this season figures to be one of the top ones in Division II.
"Our conference is very difficult as we have two of the top teams in the country. It is very exciting to be in the conference with both Lindenwood and Indianapolis, so we have this automatic opportunity to play and compete against them and show them and ourselves how good we can be playing against top teams," the Bearcat coach added.
One of the highlights of McKendree's schedule this season is to travel to Colorado and play four games in a span of six days in mid-March. During its trip to Colorado, the Bearcats will play games at Fort Lewis College, Regis University, No. 24 Colorado Mesa and Colorado State-Pueblo.
"These games in Colorado will help give us a chance to play some different teams and also help us to have a competitive schedule that prepares us for league play," said Gyllenborg.
Gyllenborg says her team has several goals this season and she's hopeful her team's schedule will help them achieve one or two of those goals.
"Our schedule has been set up for us to play some of the Top 25 teams in the country and definitely getting a win against one of the those teams would us break into the Top 25 would be a great thing to do. Additionally, we're always right on the cusp of our regional rankings, being at No. 4 or No. 5, but we would like to break into the top three of the regional rankings," Gyllenborg said. "We also want to stay healthy and make sure the girls are playing to the best of their ability and having fun."
Following this weekend's games with UIndy and Davenport, the Bearcats are scheduled to open the home portion of its 2022 schedule on Sunday, March 6 with an 11 an 11 a.m. game at Leemon Field against Preseason No. 14 ranked Grand Valley State. The Bearcats first GLVC game of the season is scheduled for Satrurday, April 2 as the Bearcats travel to St. Charles, Mo., for a 1 p.m. game against No. 1 ranked Lindenwood.
