Women's Lacrosse: PAC releases preseason poll; 2024 preview
Written by Colin Herb
BETHANY, W.Va. - The President's Athletic Conference (PAC) preseason polls for women's lacrosse were released Wednesday morning by the league's office. The Bethany Bison are predicted to finish ninth this season.
The predictive standings project Washington & Jefferson to go perfect in PAC play and finish on top of the conference. They accumulated a majority of the first place votes going 7-for-10 and earning 79 total placement points.
Following in second is Allegheny who managed to catch one first place vote and 70 points. Third and fourth place have an interesting dynamic. Chatham didn't receive any first place votes, yet the Cougars sit in third with 62 placement points. Despite having two first place votes, more than Chatham and Allegheny, Grove City falls into the predictive fourth place slot at 60 points.
The rest of the predictions from 5-10 are as follows in order: Franciscan (45), Saint Vincent (41), Westminster (37), Theil (25), Bethany (20), and Waynesburg (11).
The Bison have a new face leading the herd this year as Molly Nuri will coach her college lacrosse season in 2024. The two-time PAC champion and Player of the Year played four seasons at Saint Vincent. Nuri currently holds the program record for career assists (136) and is runner up in career points (241). She spent last season as the head coach at Oakland Catholic before being brought on at Bethany.
The PAC's Bethany Players to Watch coincidentally includes one player from each class (Freshman-Grad).
Freshman Tatum Severe from Hilliard Bradley averaged over two goals per game in her senior season. Severe's offensive prowess helped her team reach the state playoffs. The PAC believes Tatum can help Bethany fill a hole on offense after the Bison's all-time leading scorer graduated.
The only returning Bethany PAC Player to watch who returns with honors is defender Janez Matthews. Matthews was named to the Sportsmanship Team last year. She played in all 17 games as a freshman progressing into a regular starter for the Bison (11 starts). She is very safe with the ball as her caused turnovers doubled her personal turnovers 18-9.
Junior Abbie Carpenter is the Bison's swiss army knife. Unfortunately her sophomore season was cut short due to injury, but she had accumulated some impressive stats in her nine games played. Carpenter led the team in shot-on-goal percentage with 81.3% when accounting for volume (minimum of 40 goals attempted). She landed 10 goals and three assists while also causing seven turnovers as an attacker.
Karley Trinidad was a perfect 16-for-16 in games started for the Bison. The senior attacker finished third in 2023 goals with 17 while tacking on five assists. Her 17 goals came on 39 attempts. With 43.6% shot efficiency, expect Trinidad to be firing more- and scoring more- in this upcoming season.
Sarah Sberna rounds out the PAC players to watch as she is set to complete her second graduate-student season for the Bison. Sberna brings a ton of experience to a fairly young team that only holds four seniors. The defender played in every game, starting 16 of 17. Sberna caused 15 turnovers last season.
Bonus player to watch: Sophomore Jada Carter is a player to watch that's under the radar. Carter wasted little time getting going on offense in her freshman year. She was the clear second in goals with 26 on the season, only trailing Bethany's all-time leading scorer Cassidy Mailloux's 42 senior season goals. Look for Carter to be a focal point of the Bison offense in 2024.\
The first women's lacrosse game of the season will be home on Don Ault Field at Bison Stadium. They will host Marietta on Wednesday, February 21st at 4 PM.
