Feb. 13, 2003

NORFOLK, VA -- The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team is ranked 17th in a preseason poll released by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) it was announced today.

The 2003 version of the Lady Monarchs return 15 letterwinners and seven starters to the turf from last season's 13-5 squad. Last year's team finished the year 13th in the IWLCA Poll and second in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), capturing a school best 13 wins and 209 goals scored.

Five of last season's six top scorers return in 2003. Among the returning Lady Monarchs include last year's Division I leader in points per game in junior Suzanne Wosczyna (Phoenixville, PA). Wosczyna became just the 13th Division I player to record 100 or more points in the season totaling 103 and averaging 5.72 per game.

Senior captains Danielle Hensil (Havertown, PA), Marlaine Smith (Gaithersburg, MD), and Kim Calkin (Winter Springs, FL) will guide the team in 2003. Hensil ranked poured in 47 goals and 19 assists as the Lady Monarchs' second leading scorer last year. She was the only player to score in all 18 contests a year ago and ranked 27th in the country in points per game. Smith was also ranked in the national stats as well. As the Lady Monarchs' draw control specialist, she led the squad with 45 draws and finished 18th nationally in the category. Calkin will once again bolster the defensive unit. Last year she was one of the top Old Dominion players in caused turnovers with 11 and scooped up 13 groundballs.

Five opponents from this year's schedule are featured in the preseason Top 20 including #3 Virginia, #6 Maryland, and #19 Richmond along with CAA rivals #15 James Madison and #20 George Mason.

The Old Dominion women's lacrosse schedule gets underway on March 1st when they host American at Foreman Field at noon.

IWLCA PRESEASON DIVISION I POLL

1       Princeton       189 (4 first place votes)
2      	Duke            187 (4)
3       Virginia        184 (2)
4       Georgetown      173
5   	Loyola          146
6    	Maryland        136
7    	Notre Dame      135
8    	Vanderbilt      124
9    	Cornell         121
10   	UNC             114
11   	Ohio State      109
12   	Dartmouth       82
13    	Yale            71
14    	Syracuse        69
15    	JMU             66
16    	Penn State      65
17    	Old Dominion    44
18    	Johns Hopkins   33
19    	Richmond        20
20    	George Mason    11