Women’s Lacrosse Prepares for Upcoming Season

Last season, the Liberty women’s lacrosse team finished with a 6-13 overall record, and a 4-3 conference landing them in fourth place in the Big South. This season the team looks to change their standings, by focusing on what the team calls The Team 10.

“We focus on 10 things to help build each other up,” sophomore Grace Fletcher said. “To focus on respect, and having a good attitude, and taking responsibility for our actions, and being a good teammate.”

Though the Lady Flames may not have had the record that they wanted last season, they still learned from their experiences. One thing that the Lady Flames gained from last season is a new practice set up.

“Honestly our set up for practice has changed a lot,” assistant coach Nina Dunay said. “Our structure, our schedule each week has been a lot more black and white and I think the girls have really benefitted from it.”

The mindset this season may be different from past seasons, but the expectations are still the same. Like every sports team, the Lady Flames have their division rivals, and High Point University is the team that the women’s lacrosse team wants to take down.

“My expectations for this season is that we get better than we did last year,” said sophomore Sarah Steenson. “Beat High Point and get past the semifinals.”

This season the Lady Flames have added eight new freshmen to their roster. One of the issues most freshman college athletes have is adjusting to the change of pace going from high school to college. The new Lady Flames seem to be adjusting rather nicely.

“The freshmen are doing beautifully,” Dunay said. “They have had a seamless transition to playing at the collegiate level. It’s really challenging to kind of pick up the pace of the game.  Even though the game is almost entirely the same, the pace is almost completely different, and they are transitioning really well.”

This season the team is staying focused, but it also is not forgetting to have fun while doing so.

“I just want to focus on having fun,” junior Kayla Foster said. “Every game, every practice, that’s all I want to do. Because then I’ll get better and then it’ll help the team.”

This season the Lady Flames have a variety of opponents, some they have faced before, others from states that girls on the team have never been to. One of the notable places the Lady Flames will travel this year, is San Diego, California to face the San Diego State Aztecs.

“I’ve only been on the East Coast and the furthest I’ve been is Colorado,” said Steenson. “I’ve definitely never been to California, so I am so pumped.”

Putting aside the fact that the Lady Flames were predicted to come in fourth place in the preseason pool for the Big South, they remain focused on conference and what the ultimate goal for the team is – a Big South Championship.

“Ever since I’ve been here our preseason ranking has been fourth,” Foster said. “At the end of the day we have our goals, Big South Championship, so we want to be number one. But if that’s how people see us then I guess we can be an underdog.”