 "Photo: Julie Berry")
Take a wooden stick, a rubber ball and a team of 11 women and what do you get?
The answer is lacrosse, one of America's oldest sports. You have seen the stick, you have seen the sport, but have you seen the skill? The lacrosse girls are seen out in the mud showing off their mad skills, but do you really know Gonzaga's team? Do you understand what the girls do?
To women lacrosse players such as Stephanie Clark and Julie Berry, playing the sport is so much more than going out with a wooden stick and throwing a rubber ball around. It is about getting "the team out there to play and seeing how everyone interacts on the field together," Berry, secretary of the team, said.
The team is lead by Sarah Menzies, lacrosse president, and Olivia Lucero, who started the team and now serves as the coach. This sport is about athletes getting together to play lacrosse and play at a competitive level. It is an ever-growing sport in the Northwest as more and more schools are deciding to take up lacrosse on campus.
"Lacrosse is growing so quickly in the West and has proven itself true in the East," Lucero said. "Now, experienced players are beginning to come to Gonzaga and for the first time, experienced players outnumber those who have never played. The odds are only improving for us."
The women's lacrosse team is not playing in season games right now, but they have been practicing hard in order to prepare themselves for the tournaments they compete in. The team actually had a tournament in Walla Walla last weekend. It played three games and came out 1-2.
"I am very proud of how well the team played this [past] weekend. We won one out of three games and the other two were close," Lucero said.
Upcoming tournaments include one the first week of March in Boise, and one April 8-9 in Ellensburg. Several schools attend these tournaments including Ohio State University and Boise State University. Women's lacrosse holds practice every day of the week except on Fridays on either Mulligan Field, or Foley Field and each practice lasts about two hours.
Clark, a freshman defender, says that even though lacrosse is a great form of exercise, a fun sport and great opportunity to bond with other girls on the team, one downside of playing lacrosse is that practices are held on the weekends, but that doesn't stop her from wanting to play. It was something she always wanted to do in high school and was excited to find that she could play for Gonzaga.
The lacrosse team has about 20 girls even though only 11 are allowed on the field at the time. Lacrosse is a combination of basketball, hockey and soccer. The games include such things as checking, which is knocking the ball out of the opponent's basket; cutting, which is catching a passed ball; passing, which is throwing the ball to a teammate; and pick-ups, which are picking up a loose ball. The way of scoring points is by throwing the ball into the goal, which is similar to that of hockey and soccer. It is a non-contact sport and players can receive fouls for rough play.
It is still up in the air as to how soon it will be before it is a collegiate sport. However, lacrosse is still a very popular sport that should be recognized for its hard working players and form of agility and skill. The women's lacrosse team is out there working hard and would love all the support from the student body it can get.
"Few things can incite such strong emotion so quickly. You can be ecstatic, exhausted, thrilled, frustrated and angry all within a 30- minute half," Lucero said.
These "chicks with sticks," as they like to call themselves, enjoy partaking in this good ol' American sport. So next time you see these girls out on the field working to get a name for themselves and giving up two hours each day to practice, get some school spirit and offer a cheer for women's lacrosse.
Be the first to comment on this article!