GUILDERLAND — This past spring, the fate of the Stonehill College women’s lacrosse team was in the hands of .

And that’s where she liked it.

After watching Stonehill win its first national championship as a back-up goalie two years ago, Stone was one of the main forces behind the Chieftains second national championship, this time a 13-10 win over West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
"It was more suspenseful the last time," said Stone, a junior at Stonehill. "I was there watching and there was nothing I could do.
"This time, it was more exciting," the 2002 Guilderland High School graduate added. "Whatever happened was in my hands."

The petite Stone stood tall for the Chieftains in goal, making 10 saves in the Division II Championship Game and being named the game’s most valuable player. The title-game MVP award was among the many trophies Stone earned this year.
"That was shocking," a modest Stone said. "I didn’t think I deserved to get it. I was into the game. The defense was good. They blocked shots and, when the defense plays like that, they should get more credit when the other team doesn’t score.
"It was a whole team effort," Stone added.

Stone began playing lacrosse in the eighth grade and started as a field player.
"I kept with it through high school," she said. "I started playing goalie my freshman year and did it on and off. I didn’t expect to play it in college."

Stone also played soccer at Guilderland High School and wanted to play that sport in college.
"I changed my mind in my senior year," Stone said. "I just love soccer, I wish I was still playing."

Stonehill standout

Stone decided to attend Stonehill, a Catholic College in Massachusetts, but also wanted to play lacrosse in college.
"I wanted to be part of the program," she said. "But I didn’t know how good the program was."

There were plenty of other reasons she picked the school located in North Easton, Mass.
"I picked it for the whole atmosphere," Stone said. "It’s close to Boston and it was close to home. My parents could visit on weekends and stuff. It also had the academic programs I wanted."

The English major is writing quite a story on the lacrosse field.

Stone was named a first-team Division II All-American by the Inter-collegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association, US Lacrosse, Inside Lacrosse Magazine, and Womenslacrosse.com. She was also a first-team Eastern College Athletic Association all-star.

Additionally, Stone was named Division II goalkeeper of the year by the IWLCA. US Lacrosse, Inside Lacrosse Magazine, Womanslacrosse.com, and the ECAC.

She also earned repeated accolades, during the 11-week season, she was named Northeast 10 Conference Goalkeeper of the Week 10 times.

Stone was the national leader in goals against average with 4.45 goals per game. She was also second nationally in save percentage with .586.

Stone helped the Chieftains to a 21-0 record — a single season record for wins — and has a career record of 34-3.

She also earned a spot in the Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd section that features amatuer athletes.

Not bad for a player who didn’t know how good the program was when she tried out for the team as a freshman.

Walk-on
"I walked on my freshman year," Stone said. "I always wanted to play a college sport and I thought it would be a good way to get to know people on campus. I didn’t realize how much of a commitment came along with it."

But the major commitment didn’t deter Stone from sticking with the team.
"I didn’t know how much my life would revolve around lacrosse," Stone said. "But I’m glad I did it.
"It takes a good amount of time," Stone added. "We practice every day for two hours. No one knows why, but we never get out on time. We want to perfect a drill, and we stay until we get it right."

The program was on the rise as Stone was set to attend the school. The team was working to catch traditional powers West Chester and Longwood University in Virginia, now a Division I team.
"My senior year of high school, they were in the national championship game," Stone said of Stonehill. "The next year we were Division II champions. Last year, we were knocked out. The program had progressed, and we were mad that we didn’t go further than that."

When Stone arrived on campus, she was not sure if she would play in the goal or in the field.
"I brought a field stick and a goalie stick to tryouts," Stone said. "A few weeks into practice, I realized I wasn’t going to need my field stick. I was the only goalie in the fall."

Commitment

Stone was the starting goalie for fall ball during her first semester at Stonehill. The starting goalie, Katie Shannon, was away for the semester, but came back for the spring.
"The starting goalie was a senior and an All-American," Stone said. "She was back for the spring. She’s my goalie coach now."

Stone didn’t get down after moving into the back-up role. She learned from Shannon and realized she had a lot of time to make her mark.
"I knew my sophomore year I had a chance to start," Stone said. "They had recruits so it wasn’t set in stone and I had to compete for the position for a while. One girl decided to transfer; her heart was not there. There’s a lot of commitment."

In Stone’s first year as the starting goaltender, the Chieftains did not make the playoffs.
"Only four teams make the NCAA’s in Division II," she said. "There are two teams from the north and two from the south. Three of the top teams are in the north, so one of us between Adelphi, C.W. Post, and us wouldn’t get in. We had a bad season; that’s the way it is."

Adelphi won the Division II championship with a 12-11 win over West Chester.

Adelphi had beaten Stonehill earlier in the 2004 season.

Looking ahead

Stone says, unlike in the 2004 season, she and her teammates will be more prepared to defend their title.
"It’s not going to be like that next year," she said. "Last year, there was pressure to defend the championship and we didn’t know how to deal with it. We want to shut down all the pressure next year.
"We went undefeated," Stone added. "And no one expected us to win the championship. But we knew we could do it. We knew it would be a battle but we knew we could win it in the end."

The Chieftains graduate only four seniors, so they could be favorites to repeat.

One of the reasons Stonehill got overlooked in the post-season is because her team plays in a league they dominate.
"Most of the teams in our league are not at our level," Stone said. "We had a lot of blowouts. We could score 20 goals and still not play well."

The Chieftains do play an out-of-league schedule that prepares them for the playoffs.
"At the end of the season, we do have some gut checks," Stone said of tougher contests.

Stonehill faced Adelphi in the semifinals for the 2005 championship.
"It was a good game," Stone said. "They are a physical, intense team."

Stonehill had beaten Adelphi during the regular season but Adelphi knocked Stonehill out of the NCAA tournament in 2004.
"It was a tough game," Stone said of this year’s contest. "But we set the pace. They didn’t play their best game, but we kept them from playing their best."

Stone did not give her own performance a high rating.
"I made some saves," she said. "I didn’t play as well as the first time. It’s hard to rate. You never see the same shot. You think, ‘I would’ve blocked this in another game.’"

"We knew we could do it"

A week later, Stonehill put the finishing touches on the season with the win over West Chester, though it was unexpected by a lot of people.
"Everyone on the team thought that we would win," Stone said. "But we taped the game on CSTV [College Sports Television] and the comentators seemed very one-sided toward West Chester. They didn’t think we knew how to play.
"But we knew we could do it," Stone added. "We really wanted to beat West Chester. We were talking about it in the locker room. We weren’t talking about playing for a national championship. We were thinking about beating West Chester."

The Stonehill players also had some added motivation.
"Chocolate cake," Stone said. "We wanted to come back after winning the game and have chocolate cake."

The championship has been the icing on the cake for Stone’s college life. Lacrosse is an everyday thing for Stone, like going to classes and studying.
"A lot of friends I’ve met at school are on the team," she said. "Or they are friends of people of the team. It has shaped what I’ve done since I’ve been in college. Our coach reminds us that we’re a lacrosse team, not a social club. We just love to spend time together. We all get along so well."