Today: Mar 29, 2024

Women’s lacrosse starts the season 2-1

Ben MartinContributor

After two games, the universities women’s lacrosse team is undefeated with a record of 2-0. The Owls won two games with strikingly different scores defeating Chestnut Hill College 17-1 and defeating Molloy university 12-11.  

Winning these first two games has shown head coach Kevin Siedlecki a lot about his team.  

“We got a lot of young girls in, and we performed great. “We have a lot of depth,” Siedlecki said in response to the Chestnut Hill game on Feb. 18  

The Owls got to highlight that depth when graduate student Kelly Jagodzinski, midfielder, went down with an injury. Coach Siedlecki decided to split her time between two freshman who he thought performed well.  

“They really did fine,” Siedlecki said. “Kelly being a grad student probably is a little bit more comfortable would have made a couple more plays than the freshman in their first college game, but they certainly did not hurt us.”   

Along with the depth, two of Siedlecki’s captains Bayleigh Takacs and Liney White added that the growth of the Women’s Lacrosse program at the university was something seen in their first few games.  

“This is my fifth season with my team, so just thinking about back in my freshman year not even in just numbers of the team but in depth of the skill level,” Tackas said. “We are about double from what my freshman year was.”  

In Tackas’ first season back in 2019, the team featured 19 athletes on their roster, but for their current squad 34 athletes are rostered according to the university’s athletic department website.  

In addition to the depth and growth of the tournament, Coach Siedlecki saw another piece he liked in the following game against Molloy.  

“The Molloy game really showed us that we have the heart,” Siedlecki said.  

Siedlecki saw that heart from the Owls fighting to win a game in tough conditions. The Molloy game was played in 20 degrees and snow which is not the greatest weather for any outdoor sport. Siedlecki added that the game was very sloppy on the part of both teams.  

In the game, Molloy had 20 turnovers to the Owls 16. Siedlecki added that a good division game may have 15 total turnovers and that the league average for division two per team is 15-16.  

Although Siedlecki saw the team’s heart during the game, particularly when the Owls ran nine to four in the late second and third quarters, Siedlecki wants to see that heart for longer stretches.  

“That’s how much better we are than Molloy, but we are still figuring out how to win,” Sieldecki said. “We let them claw back into it and we won in overtime. When you get up 11-8, you got to have that killer instinct and be winners and get it”  

Siedlecki added that the team has a lot of things to work on such as turnovers and clearing, the team has the heart to go and win which he is happy about.  

Tackas’ fellow captain, White added that the first two games helped improve the team’s mentality.  

“Both of those games were challenging mentally. When you are up by a lot you must maintain a score and you cannot stoop to the other team’s level and fall behind,” White said. “When you’re tied almost the whole game it’s also hard to find that energy and really pull through.”  

The first few contests have shown some good and some bad for the Owls, but they are on track to break a season record. Since the program’s inception in 2008, the Women’s Lacrosse team has not won more than four games in a season and the team already has two wins in the young season.  

Despite the lack of success in past seasons, the big key to success for White is gratitude.  

“The biggest thing for me is waking up every day knowing how lucky I am to be playing a sport,” White said. “Knowing that this is my last season, just being grateful somedays are a lot harder than others, you just have to be grateful for the opportunity that you have.”  

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