Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 27, 1993 TAG: 9304270059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS BACHELDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Lisa Dowling has turned Washington and Lee's lacrosse record book into an autobiography.
This season, her fourth in the five-year-old program, Dowling is finishing the masterpiece. The senior attacker from Ruxton, Md., owns every school scoring record - goals, assists and points in a game, season and career.
"Because it's a new program, the books haven't really been written, so Lisa is writing and rewriting them," said Generals' coach Janine Hathorne. "But I think she could be doing this anywhere. On the national scope, she fits in with the best."
Most impressive in a sea of stats is Dowling's 74 goals this season, which vaporizes her year-old mark of 45. She scored 11 goals in a game this season and has scored five or more nine times.
Dowling had five Sunday as the 15th-ranked Dowling Generals (12-2, 8-0) toppled No. 11 Roanoke to win their first Old Dominion Athletic Conference regular season title. Both W&L, the defending tournament champ, and Roanoke receive a bye to the semifinals, held Friday in Lexington.
Today, Bridgewater plays at Randolph-Macon and Sweet Briar travels to Lynchburg. Roanoke will play the Sweet Briar-Lynchburg winner at 1:30 Friday and the Generals will meet the Bridgewater-Randolph-Macon survivor at 4. The championship game will be held Saturday at 2.
Dowling has led the team in scoring three straight years. She made first team all-ODAC last season, and was a second-team selection her sophomore year. Last season, she shared the scoring load with senior Kimberly Bishop, who graduated as the school's career scoring leader.
"My first few years, I was content to play behind Kimberly," Dowling said. "Even when I scored more goals, she was a bigger presence. Just knowing that someone had to fill in for her might have helped create the season I've had.
"I'm definitely surprised. I assumed I'd have an OK season, but I didn't expect what's happened."
Dowling piled up 62 points - 44 goals and 18 assists - in W&L's first seven games this season. She slowed down in a four-game, 14-point stretch before breaking loose for a school-record 11 goals against Hollins last Tuesday.
Dowling has 24 assists and 98 points - seven per game - to lead the ODAC in scoring. She has scored a point in 33 straight games, dating to 1991.
"What makes her stand out is her shooting, her incredible ability to put the ball where she wants," Hathorne said. "She just has an eye for the goal and she became fun to coach once she realized what she could do with the ball."
Dowling has been a key figure in the rapid rise of Hathorne's young program. This is the Generals' fourth straight winning year after a 7-8 inaugural season in 1989.
Dowling and her classmates are 44-18, with a league championship and tournament championship during that span. The team's only losses this season were at Hartwick and at William Smith on a two-game, three-day New York road trip.
"This is one fired up program," said Hathorne, who came to W&L from Dension, where she won five league titles. "I didn't expect this to happen so quickly. It's just unimaginable.
"Lisa's been here four of the five years. She can safely say that in the last few years, she's highly responsible for the success. But she'd be the first to tell you she didn't do it herself."
Dowling knows she has good help. W&L won back-to-back ODAC games earlier this season when face-guarding, double-teaming defenses held her to four points in two games. Four of Dowling's fellow attackers - including senior Paige Henke - have combined for 127 goals this season.
Dowling said her career has far surpassed her expectations. As it draws to a close, her name fills a page of records and her team has an outside shot at a spot in the eight-team Division III national tournament.
"In my freshman year, I would have never said I'd be graduating with this," said Dowling, a dean's list student majoring in French and history. "I didn't understand what it meant to be good.
"But being ranked, winning the ODAC and having a chance at nationals has been exciting and it's made us all work really hard. It's amazing how far we've come."
by CNB