By Cooper Sutton

Sports Editor

Alyssa DeLorenz ’11 has started every game for the Bison women’s lacrosse team in goal this year, only missing seven and a half minutes of game time in the team’s 11 games. As a result of her hard work and persistence in goal, she currently leads the NCAA in saves with 139. Overall, she is sixth all-time in Bison history in saves.

Though her number of saves is very high, so too is her goals against average, standing at 15.17 goals per game. She does not refute that some bad comes with the good.

“I’ve seen a lot of shots, so I’m going to have to make a lot more saves,” she said. “I have to play differently when I’m facing more shots than I would when I face less. If I make a mistake here or there it’s a lot less noticeable. Then it also gives me chances to make saves that I shouldn’t make to make up for the other ones I let in.”

DeLorenz has been resilient in more ways than one in goal so far in her career. Beyond staying persistent after letting in shots, she also continues to play to the best of her abilities despite her team’s losing record.

“I just love lacrosse in general,” she said. “Being from Texas, there aren’t really that many opportunities to play at the collegiate level, so I’ve just been enjoying playing here.”

The high quantity of shots that DeLorenz sees stems in large part to the youth of her team, comprised of 70 percent first-years. As a senior on this team, she has, aside from taking a huge quantity of shots, had to serve as a leader for the young team. She is a co-captain for the team and someone that the young members of the team look up to.

“[DeLorenz] plays with intensity and makes everyone want to work harder,” midfielder Sophie Klienert ’14 said.

She leads by example: when she was struggling earlier this year, she actively sought to make herself better. She spent time working with a former all-American from Duke, who, DeLorenz said, significantly improved her play.

“Right before the Penn State game, she showed me some pointers and some things to work on that I had never thought of before. I’ve been really focusing on those and they have helped me improve significantly. I’m still not quite to where they’d like me to be, but I think I’m getting there,” she said.

Continuing to improve, even as a senior, DeLorenz exemplifies persistence and hard work on a team that is continuing to improve itself. It seems that she may be one of the building blocks that the young team builds on as it attempts to move forward in the future.