ANOTHER BREAKTHROUGH SEASON: Just five years into the history of the program, the Pacific women’s lacrosse team has come from being zeroes to pros. The Boxers closed out the 2011 season with not only their second consecutive winning season, but closed with a 10-4 overall record. For the first time, the Boxers complete a sweep of their Northwest Conference foes and finished with better overall records than both Linfield (1-12) and Puget Sound (6-6).

The Boxers opened the season on a tear, winning their first five contests. Pacific opened with the year with a 15-13 road win at Puget Sound on Mar. 8, and followed that up four days later with a 17-8 neutral site drubbing of the rival Wildcats.

Pacific went on to win four of five games in a long home stand over the next week and a half against out-of-region competition. The Boxers won the first three games over Carthage, Morrisville State (N.Y.) and Fontbonne before taking their first loss of the season to Plymouth State on Mar. 20, 11-9. The Boxers led Head Coach Wynne Lobel’s former squad 7-4 before the perennial east region playoff contender outscored the Boxers 6-1 in the second half. The Boxers closed the home stand with a 23-5 rout of North Central (Ill.) that saw Monica Smith set a single game record for assists and saw team records broken for assists and points in a game.

The Boxers went 1-2 on their southern California road trip and returned home to a 16-6 loss to Colorado College on Apr. 1. Pacific finished the year with three straight victories, two over Linfield and one at home over Puget Sound in the home finale.

TURNING ON THE OFFENSE: With 10 victories came a record torrent of scoring for the Boxers. Pacific set single season records in a variety of offensive categories. The record tallies include 209 goals, 61 assists, 270 points, 10 game-winning goals and 425 shots. The Boxers put away 14.93 goals per game while limiting opponents to just 10.79 goals per contest. Seven of Pacific’s 10 wins came by five goals or more with two of those contests being decided by an over 10-goal margin.

Individually, 16 of the 18 Pacific players on the roster scored goals this season with six players scoring 10 or more goals. Four players finished with 30 goals or more, led by 44 goals by Kaitlyn Harper and 41 goals by Kelly Stevens. Natalie Getchell tallied 33 goals and Monica Smith added 32 strikes.

A POWER IN THE MAKING: With numbers like Pacific put up as a team, it won’t be long before they are viewed as a power among Division III women’s lacrosse teams in the west. The Boxers finished the season in the top-100 in all eight team statistical categories kept by the NCAA for Division III programs. The Boxers ranked 25th in scoring offense with 14.93 goals per game, 34th with a .714 win percentage, 40th in scoring margin by outscoring opponents by 4.14 goals per game and 47th with 9.43 caused turnovers per game.

In addition, Pacific ranked 76th with 20.43 ground balls per game, 80th in scoring defense, allowing 10.79 goals per game, 86th in points at 270.0 and 98th with 12.29 draw controls per game. In the end, Pacific finished seventh among west region schools in win percentage, trailing NCAA Tournament contender Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (.882), Colorado College (.867), Adrian (.800), Washington & Jefferson (.800) Denison (.765) and Redlands (.765).

THE ON-FIELD LEADER AGAIN: For the second time in her two years with the Boxers, Kaitlyn Harper proved to be the Boxers’ scoring leader. The sophomore led the team with 44 goals on 79 shots for am impressive .557 shot percentage. Her totals included three-game winning goals and nine free-position goals.

Harper scored a goal in all 14 Pacific games. She scored a season-high five goals on three different occasions, against Fontbonne on Mar. 18, at Pomona-Pitzer on Mar. 28 and vs. Linfield on Apr. 4. She also scored game-winning goals in two of the Boxers’ three victories over Linfield.

While Harper’s scoring totals were very impressive, it was in the defensive categories where she distinguished herself as a team player. Harper set Pacific single season records with 50 ground balls and 40 caused turnovers. She finished ranked 52nd among NCAA Division III players with 3.57 ground balls per game and 58th with 1.79 caused turnovers per game. In addition to the two single season records, Harper tied a pair of individual game marks. She was one of four Pacific players to finish with nine ground balls in a game, doing so against Puget Sound on Apr. 8. Her four caused turnovers against Carthage on Mar. 15 was the fifth time the plateau has been reached in school history.

MOVING AT ONE SPEED: If Kaitlyn Harper was the on-field scoring leader, it was sophomore Kelly Stevens who set the pace at which Pacific played the game: fast and aggressive. Stevens led the Boxers 61 points, putting in 41 goals to go along with 20 assists. She finished ranked 75th among NCAA Division III players with 4.36 points per game and 86th nationally with 1.43 assists per contest. Her scoring totals included three game-winners and nine free-position conversions.

Stevens finished one short of the Pacific single game record with a seven-goal performance in the Boxers’ 23-5 rout of North Central (Ill.) on Mar. 22, making the seven on nine attempts. She also posted five-goal performances at Pomona-Pitzer on Mar. 28 and against Puget Sound on Apr. 8. While missing the goal-scoring record, Stevens did scratch her name in the record book in two single game categories. She registered four assists twice, once against Linfield on Mar. 12 and against Morrisivlle State on Mat. 17. She also tied a single game record with nine draw controls against Puget Sound on Apr. 4.

CLEARING THE CREASE: In her second year as the Boxers’ regular starting goalkeeper, Brittany Hartmann has developed into one of the top stoppers in the west. The starter in all 14 games, Hartmann finished the season with a school record 10.51 goals against average. In 822 minutes of action, she allowed 144 goals. She also set a single season record with her 10 wins in goal. Hartmann finished the year ranked 29th among NCAA Division III keepers in save percentage (.493) and saves per game (11), 46th in saves and 67th in goals against average.

Hartmann finished with a season high 19 saves in the Boxers’ loss to Colorado College on Apr. 1. She had 18 saves in Pacific’s overtime victory over Pomona-Pitzer on Mar. 28 and 17 saves against Whittier on Mar. 25. In her 14 games, Hartmann finished with double-digit saves in eight of them. In her only game played in the field this season, Hartmann scored her first collegiate goal in the second half of the Boxers’ 19-8 rout of Linfield on Apr. 12.

MOTORIN’ MONICA: For the third year, Monica Smith continued to be a spark plug for the Boxers out of the midfield. The junior finished the season with 32 goals and 17 assists, finishing third on the team with a total of 49 points. She notched her place in the Pacific record with a total of four game-winning goals and tied a single game record with four assists against North Central (Ill.) on Mar. 22. Smith finished the season with a pair of four-goal games against Whittier on Mar. 25 and against Puget Sound on Apr. 8. While still owning one more season of eligibility, Smith will spend her senior season concentrating on studies in Pacific’s Dental Hygiene Science program.

FINISHING STRONG: Natalie Getchell finished her four-year Pacific women’s lacrosse career quite strong. The senior finished third for the Boxers with 33 goals and finished tied for third with 21 draw controls. Getchell had her biggest game of the season in the opener, scoring five goals on six shots in the Boxers’ 15-13 win over Puget Sound on Mar. 8. In addition to Getchell and Smith, Pacific said farewell at the end of the year to defender Sydney Vincent, midfielders Stephanie Manning and Molly Bailey and forward Ella VandeKamp.