Feb. 13, 2012
Q: What are you looking forward to about playing Bucknell this Wednesday?
Missy Doherty: It's our first game of the season even though we just had a scrimmage yesterday and every first game you are still working out some cobwebs. We have a fairly young team this year and our improvement has been quick over preseason and fall ball, but Bucknell will give us another chance to continue to grow as a team.
Q: Is there a way you are going to use Bucknell being a fairly young team to your advantage?
Missy Doherty: Any time you play another opponent you are really just working on what you need to work on. We just played Cornell yesterday and it was a competitive scrimmage and we learned a lot from it. We want to try and be a little more aggressive on offense and Dana [Cahill] had a great game; she has been a pillar to our defense. We are looking forward to taking both of our strengths and building from our weaknesses at Bucknell on Wednesday.
Q: Dana, you were listed as a preseason player to watch. Does that add any pressure to you for this season?
Dana Cahill: I just look at it as an honor. Every year is a different year and a clean slate. I don't try to think about what happened last year because it is a brand new year and a brand new season. While it is an honor, we are just trying to play our best this year with a new team and come up with some big wins.
Q: Besides being a young team, what are the other main differences from last year?
Missy Doherty: We graduated seven starters from last year and a lot of our new starters are either freshman or returning players who are starting for the first time so that is where our youth comes from. Our midfield in general is very young but they are playing really well. The experience factor always plays into it. The more experience you build, the more you are ready for certain situations. The overall makeup of our team is young, but they are working really hard and have improved tremendously over the past couple months.
Q: Coach, it is your second year on the job. Is the program where you wanted it to be at this point?
Missy Doherty:I think we're headed in a great direction. Certain things always take some time to build and you have to be patient with the process. Being a competitor and seeing how competitive our players are, it is really hard to be patient. But we are learning as coaches, and the players are also learning, that it gets better with time. I have seen a huge improvement with our team from last year to this year as far as composure, competitiveness and confidence go. As those things continue to get better, it makes you feel better about where the program is going.
Q: Theresa, talk about what you learned about the team yesterday in your scrimmage.
Theresa Zichelli: Coming out yesterday, we were really ready to play hard. I think playing against a different opponent taught us to stay composed but remain competitive. We learned another way to play against each other while playing another team. I think we are lucky that we play Bucknell so soon because then we get to take everything that we learned Sunday and do it right again on Wednesday. We can correct some of the things we might have messed up and advance on some of the things that we did really well on.
Q: What would you say are some of the things you messed up on in your scrimmage against Cornell?
Theresa Zichelli: Keeping our composure on attack and defense. Not so much our playing ability but knowing when to be aggressive and when to hold back. Yesterday, we randomly were going hard and then we were pulling back when maybe we shouldn't have. As Missy said, we are young but we've been playing against each other really hard and it's just getting the opportunity to play against someone else to get it right.
Q: Coach, what do you see around the conference this season?
Missy Doherty: We have one of the most competitive conferences, if not the most competitive conference in the country. Yesterday, Vanderbilt beat Duke and Ohio State beat Stanford this past weekend so our conference is extremely competitive and I love it. It is one of the big reasons why I came here to Penn State, to be part of a school and a conference that is competing among the top schools in the country. It is going to be really competitive and every game is going to be a battle. I think we're in a good spot to be able to compete within the conference and we are looking forward to those games. The girls get up for those games and it is going to be an exciting year for the ALC. We also have Michigan coming in 2014 so that's adding another Big Ten school.
Q: Are there any teams you are looking forward to playing against?
Missy Doherty: Bucknell on Wednesday and then we have my alma mater, Maryland, on Sunday. I just love competing and watching our girls play. We spoke to them before Cornell about how, as the season continues, the games go more and more into their own hands and that is the fun part of the season. Watching them grow and turn into leaders and really take over games. We are really looking forward to our team evolving throughout the season and hopefully starting with a good game against Bucknell.
Q: How do you prepare to play against a team such as Maryland?
Missy Doherty: We practice every day like we are going to be playing Maryland or Northwestern, the top teams in the country. Those are the teams we want to beat and those are the teams that we prepare to play. We are going to have to play our best game, like we will have to against Bucknell. We were fortunate enough to scrimmage them twice in the fall and we had great competitive scrimmages in our fall ball this year, playing Stanford, Georgetown, Maryland and JMU. We had some really good competition and I think our girls got to see what they are going to face this season. We have to be ready to go hard and remain confident no matter what the situation is, but I think we're ready for that.
Q: What is it like to finally have a new home for Penn State lacrosse?
Missy Doherty: Our field is incredible and we are so excited to have our place to play. Last year, we had eight home games in three different spots, so we're hopefully going to get outside this weekend when we play Maryland. The venue really lends itself to be an awesome game spot. The way it sits down the hill, where it's overlooking Beaver Stadium, it's just a great facility and a great site. You can feel the excitement for our games and for Penn State lacrosse. I think not only the players and coaches feel it but also the recruits coming to Penn State. It's another example of Penn State really investing in lacrosse and we are excited for that.
Q: Dana and Theresa can you talk about what it's like to play in that facility?
Dana Cahill: It's amazing. For three years, we have been playing our home games on a number of different fields and to have a place that reads Penn State Lacrosse across the score board is amazing to see. It is definitely going to pump us up more when it comes to home games because we are going to want to win on our turf and make it proud.
Theresa Zichelli: It is just another example of how Penn State is really investing in our program. I know it makes both of us excited to finally play somewhere that is deemed for Penn State Lacrosse. It's a really big deal to us, so we are excited to play on it.
Q: Dana and Theresa, for people who haven't experienced lacrosse, explain the environment and what it's like here at Penn State.
Dana Cahill: It is definitely a competitive sport and I think it is very fun to watch. It's very physical and fast paced. Offense and defense are both very fun to watch. A lot of the games are close so it's not one team killing the other making it very competitive. I think people would enjoy them and people should definitely come out and support us.
Theresa Zichelli: Dana and I are both from Maryland and lacrosse in Maryland is crazy, so coming here we didn't know what it was going to be like. Through the years, you can see how lacrosse here has really grown. The State College fan base in general has grown; it's no longer just our family and friends. Younger kids are coming to our games supporting us and the whole environment is becoming bigger. I think when we played on Jeffrey, we would have more sports teams and people we did lacrosse clinics with coming to our games. Being able to play in the game with more fans is making it more exciting.
Missy Doherty: We have a great home schedule this year. Maryland, Virginia, Loyola, Northwestern are all at home, so we really have some huge games at home this year, which we are excited about.