(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption: BUCKLING DOWN: Stuart Country Day attacker Elizabeth Bucklee, left, races up the field in a 2007 game. Last Friday, Bucklee fired in seven goals to help Stuart top visiting George School (Pa.) 20-10. Stuart, now 2-1 on the season, plays at Princeton High on April 9 before hosting Hun on April 11 and Princeton Day School on April 14.

Sparked by Hard-working Bucklee, Stuart Lacrosse Produces 2-1 Start

Bill Alden

Even though Elizabeth Bucklee scored seven goals to lead the Stuart Country Day lacrosse team to a win over the George School (Pa.) last Friday, she wasn’t all that pleased with her performance.

“I personally think I have to bring up my intensity on my redefending, that’s one of my goals for the season,” said the junior star in reflecting on her effort in Stuart’s 20-10 win over the Cougars.

“I’m working on my defense, sticking hard, not going for the checks, going for the body, and being a more complete player.”

Bucklee, though, was happy to see Stuart play a more complete game collectively as it rebounded from an 8-7 loss at Roxbury last Wednesday. I think Roxbury was a big upset for us, I think it was a little shove in the behind to get it into gear, that we need to focus,” said Bucklee.

“I think the main thing is just working as a team. We weren’t in sync against Roxbury. It was just too much individual players, people just rushing. In this game we tried to settle it on attack, play better defense, and just work on our transitions.”

The Stuart transition game on offense is sparked by the partnership between Bucklee and classmate Caroline Passano, who scored five goals and had six assists in the victory over George.

“We’re good friends off the field so I think we like when we can make it work,” said Bucklee, who chipped in two assists on Friday as the Tartans improved to 2-1 on the season.

“It’s fun for us. We like making it work with the team too. That’s one of our main goals, getting the team together this year.”

The Tartans have plenty of weapons for Bucklee and Passano to work with in senior Kelsey Semrod, junior Jackie Radvany, and sophomores Kara Weeks and Amanda Curnan.

“They are great, they are really confident,” said Bucklee referring to the quartet of Semrod, Radvany, Weeks, and Curnan.

“Everyone has grown this season. To come out this hard, it’s been a lot of fun. Making it work is the best part; keeping our heads up and getting the ball.”

Stuart head coach Sara Wagner liked the way her team worked against George as it recovered from a sloppy first half.

“The key for us in that game was the second half when we were patient on offense,” said Wagner, whose team fell behind 2-0 in the early going and led by just 10-7 at halftime.

“They want to get down there and score right away but we realize how important it is that you don’t do that, that you work the ball around, give the defense a break. If we do miss, the other team gets the ball in transition.”

Wagner is pleased with the way Bucklee and Passano lead the transition. “They play together a lot, they are on Tri-State together,” said Wagner, whose team plays at Princeton High on April 9 before hosting Hun on April 11 and Princeton Day School on April 14.

“With Caroline being injured, it kind of held Bucky back a little bit. Now Caroline got in a groove and they played better today.” Stuart, though, has a lot more on offense than the potent one-two punch of Bucklee and Passano.

“We have really balanced scoring,” said Wagner, who got three goals from Radvany in the win over George with Curnan adding two and Semrod and Alex Abad chipping in one apiece.

“Kelsey is such a great passer. Curnan is really fast. We are also figuring out how best to use these guys. They are much more confident this year. Amanda was a freshman last year, we can put her at center and that frees up Caroline more to play more of an attack role. We’re getting there. We are working towards that game when we just put it all together. They work hard, they want to do well.”

The Stuart defense worked hard in the second half as it held George to three goals in the second half.

“I think we were eating the ball so much on defense in the first half because our attack wasn’t recovering back,” said Wagner, whose defensive unit is spearheaded by senior defenseman Katie Baker and sophomore goalie Dewi Caswell.

“We were a little slow getting started. Sarah Schulte is a great defender. She is very calm with good stickwork. She has a great shot.”

Bucklee, for her part, thinks Stuart has a great shot at having a good spring as it chases a fourth straight state Prep B title.

“I think our offense has come out strong, we’re hoping to continue to be a powerhouse up there but it starts with our defense,” asserted Bucklee.

“They are going to be our rock this year; Dewi is great, Katie Baker is great. So it’s just keeping up our intensity, I think it will all fall in place.”

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