Hannah Westerman
Staff Writer
Spring break was not a vacation for Colorado College’s men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. Over the 11-day break, the men’s and women’s teams had five and six games respectively.
“I think having so many games in such a short period of time provides a unique challenge,” said junior attacker Virginia Logue. “Obviously, with six games in so few days the team is exhausted by the end of the week, but I think it’s good for us.”
The women’s team stayed here at CC over the break, playing all home games. They had a rough start on March 14 when they lost to Vassar College 15-8, but they came back to beat Albright College on March 17. The final score was 22-16.
This was the fifth time this season that the CC women’s team has scored 20 or more points in a game. The game was also notable for several individual players’ achievements. Logue set a career high with five goals. Senior defender Sheridan Gribbon got a career high seven ground balls. Senior midfielder Elise Burchard matched her career high with four goals.
After Albright, the women’s team went up against Denison University onMarch 19. In a close game, CC narrowly lost 13-12. The very next day, the women beat Morrisville State College 17-7.
On March 22, the women’s team had a very successful double-header. They dominated University of Puget Sound, winning with a final score of 20-3. Then, they took on Rockhurst University and won 18-4. However, the game was called with 11:37 remaining due to snow.
“We’re now 9-3, so I think that’s something we can take pride in. Our two losses over break were close, and as heartbreaking as that is, I think that it will spur us to work even harder to get to the NCAA tournament,” said Logue.
The women’s team next game is on March 29 against Chapman University on the road. Hopefully the team’s spring break success can continue in California.
The men’s team started off their break by travelling to St. Davids, Pennsylvania to play against Eastern University on March 14. Unfortunately, they lost 11-9. They had another close defeat two days later in Lynchburg, Virginia against Lynchburg College. The final score was 9-10.
The men’s team then returned home to play against Babson College on the 19th. Back on their home field, CC won 11-5. On March 21, the men’s team had a close victory over Otterbein University with a final score of 8-7.
“The team had a tough start to our spring break losing two very competitive games, but those two losses really lit a fire under the team coming back to Colorado Springs, and we were able to bounce back with three big wins,” said senior long-stick midfielder P.J Higgins. “Beating Otterbein was really great for us. They are a good team that is competing with us for a Pool B bid to the NCAA tournament and finally winning a closely contested game was a huge step forward for us after a tough start on the road.”
Junior midfielder Dylan Davie scored his second game-winning tally of the season during the Otterbein game. Around two minutes into the fourth quarter, he made a run toward the right post and sent a shot just inside the left post. Neither team scored during the final nine minutes. CC used a pair of penalties on Otterbein to run out the clock.
The men’s team continued their winning streak on March 23 with a decisive victory over Southwestern University and a final score of 14-5.
After ending their busy break on a high note, the men’s team hopes to continue to improve the rest of the season.
“The team really made some big strides over spring break. We finally are starting to figure out our style of play and how to fight through a little adversity. Going forward we really need to focus on making sure that we are able to play our style for a full 60 minutes and not having to rely on a big run late in a game to win,” said Higgins.
Higgins concluded that “spring break gave us a glimpse of how good we can be when we play together as a team, and going forward we have to focus on continuing to play that way all game every game.”