ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Assistant coach
Pete Bell may have summed it up best as he watched Roberts Wesleyan College women's lacrosse standouts
Lindsey Brinkel and
Madison Bell during a recent practice.
"They are quite the combination," Bell, who is also Madison's father, said. "They click with each other, that's for sure."
Indeed they do. In fact, Bell and Brinkel rank first and second in points per game in all of NCAA Division II women's lacrosse this season. Bell averages 6.85 points per game and Brinkel scores at a clip of 6.31 points per game.
The seniors, who both play attack, have led the Redhawks to an 8-5 record and the No. 2 seed in the East Coast Conference Tournament. Roberts, the defending ECC Tournament champion, hosts No. 3 Molloy (9-7) in a semifinal game at 3 p.m. Thursday.
And, here's the amazing thing: The two had never played together before helping lead the Redhawks to the NCAA Final Four last season.
"They are both very different, but both have such a passion for winning," Roberts coach
Kristin Paolini said. "Lindsey is a feeder first and a driver second. She is very good in tight close to the cage, she has great hands and handles the ball so well. Maddie is a driver first and feeder second and she's got such explosiveness. She can step through, stop and rip the ball."
Best in the ECC
Bell led the ECC in goals (57) and points (89) this season while Brinkel topped the conference in assists (50) and ranked second in points (82).
Brinkel led Division II in assists with 57 and was named the ECC Attacker of the Year in 2021. She was recently named Roberts Female Senior Athlete of the Year and will receive the Jerry Flynn Award as the Rochester area's Female Athlete of the Year from the Rochester Press-Radio Club on June 1.
The Aquinas Institute graduate was named a second-team Preseason All-American by USA Lacrosse Magazine and is comfortable setting up behind the goal and finding her teammates with pinpoint passes.
"I usually read the defense and look for cutters," Brinkel said. "If they are not giving me a feed, I will drive it or look for a give-and-go."
She and Bell established almost an instant connection.
"They both know where each other is going to be, it's like they are on a string," Paolini said. "If one of them makes a move, the other knows exactly where they are going to go."
"I think that Lindsey knows that when I look at her a certain way that I am going to cut and she does an amazing job of finding me," Bell said.
If Bell is not open, Brinkel has plenty of other options in fellow seniors
Alexis Grant (34 goals),
Ellen O'Neil (27 goals) as well as freshman Emma Blumenstock (15 goals) and sophomore
Sophia Podszebka (11 goals).
At home with the Redhawks
Brinkel played one season at Edinboro University before transferring to Roberts. She ranks among the Redhawks' all-time leaders with 256 points (102 goals, 154 assists) in her four seasons.
"I am so happy that I came to Roberts," Brinkel said. "I love my team and I have loved my experience. It is definitely student before athlete, but they value the athletes, too."
Bell endured two difficult seasons at Division I Central Michigan before coming to Roberts and rekindling her passion for the game.
"I am just so grateful for this school and this program because they truly did make me fall back in love with lacrosse," Bell said.
Bell is an emotional player who made an immediate impact with the Redhawks, registering 47 goals and 37 assists as a junior.
"She has always been that way ever since she was little,"
Pete Bell said. "There is no off switch with her."
And her teammates know it.
"If she's driving it, she's going to do it, there's no doubt about it," Brinkel said. "She's always hustling and always wanting to do more which pushes me to be better."
Few have ever been better than Bell was late in the first half of a game at Molloy on April 9. She scored four goals in the final 40 seconds of the second quarter as Roberts turned a 5-3 lead into a 9-3 halftime advantage.
The scoring spurt earned Bell national recognition from
USA Lacrosse Magazine and a "Reggie Award" from Roberts for Play of the Year. Although Bell has become more known for her goal scoring the past couple of seasons, it has not always been that way for the Webster Schroeder High School graduate.
"I have always been the type of player where I was going to feed it or I was going to cut," Bell said. "I have become more of a driver, but I love assisted goals. I think they are the most beautiful plays in lacrosse."
Bell and Brinkel have provided many beautiful plays in their time together as Redhawks.
"A lot of times in a lot of programs you can only have one star because there is only one ball," Paolini said. "What makes me feel good as a coach is that they have both had such great years because they have so much respect for what each of them brings to the team."
Both hope to bring the Redhawks a few more victories, but when their playing days are done the contributions of Brinkel and Bell to the program will be remembered far beyond their numbers.
"We work very hard on creating an atmosphere where our players have a love for the game, a love for each other and a love for playing for each other," Paolini said. "They have taken it further and added that competitive piece to raise the bar for our program."
