Chloe Burdette
Sports Editor
As The College of Wooster women’s lacrosse team put a victorious end to their regular season with an impressive 20-6 win over the DePauw Tigers, the team looks to go into the postseason with a 15-1 record and a “hungry for wins” attitude.
Reminiscing on their regular season, there were two mighty foes that caused the Fighting Scots a great deal of trouble — the Denison University Big Red and the Kenyon College Ladies.
“We will definitely see Denison and Kenyon in the postseason,” defender Natalie Souleyrette ’19 explained. “The coaching staff will prepare practices that work on skills we will need to win during the game, drills that work on one-on-one defense or running while switching levels with our sticks. Not to mention we will get to scout them in order to fight against the plays they will use against us!”
Midfielder Megan Healy ’19 also responded on how they will play in these high-stress games. “If we win against Kenyon on Thursday, we will most likely be playing Denison,” she said. “We have already seen both of these teams now in the regular season, meaning we know how they play and we know what their strengths and weaknesses are. I think we will prepare by watching film from our previous games against them and recognizing what worked well and what did not work well, and focusing on drills in practice that target those concepts.”
Defender Claire Truscott ’21 echoed these statements, adding that although Denison was their toughest competitor, Kenyon put up a powerful fight. “Denison was a tough game, but Kenyon was not going to let us win effortlessly,” Truscott said. “We have been talking about what went wrong in the games and fixing what needs fixed at practice. Since we have already played both of the teams, watching over the film from when we played them will help as well.”
Leading up to this postseason, the team can thank their chemistry and togetherness for their success. “The team chemistry is stronger than ever. We are all on the same page for what we want out of this season, and the way our team works together can help us achieve that,” said Truscott.
“We are close on and off the field, which is a huge part into our success,” Souleyrette added. Healy thinks that communication is key. “We work very well as a unit and are pretty good at effectively communicating with each other. Both on attack and defense, we have placed an emphasis on the unit, not the individual,” Healy stated.
In terms of potentially playing Denison again, the team summarized their struggles when they played them on April 10, losing 14-6.
“We definitely struggled in the first half. I think it took us a bit too long to start playing like how we know how to play, we gave up too many goals right at the start of the game which set us back, and we were not taking care of the ball well,” Healy stated. Souleyrette added, “I think it would be easy to just assume we will be there Sunday in the championship but mentally we need to be preparing for Thursday. With such a close win last week, we drove a knife into Kenyon’s back. They are going to come hard for us and that place for Sunday’s game. We will focus on our mistakes made in last weeks game and how to change them from mistakes to successes.”
The College of Wooster women’s lacrosse team played in the NCAC Tournament Semifinal against the Kenyon College Ladies on Thursday, May 2 at Wooster’s very own John C. Papp Stadium.