Kassandra Darnell
Print: Women’s lacrosse preps for conference season
Online: Women’s lacrosse team begins conference season after rocky start
As the Great Lakes Valley Conference and NCAA tournaments approach, the University
of Indianapolis women’s lacrosse team is currently ranked No. 6 in the Intercollegiate Women’s
Lacrosse Coaches Association, according to UIndy Athletics. The GLVC tournament begins on
April 28. Junior attacker Joey Fowler said the season has ultimately been very exciting, despite
changes in the coaching staff and players transferring at the start of the season.
“It's [tournament season] also pretty nerve-wracking for our team, especially because
we've had so many changes in the last year,” Fowler said. “So it's a little different feeling than it
has been in the past, but definitely exciting. And I think we're anxious to get to the
championships.”
Head Coach Elaine Jones said these changes were part of a rocky start to the season,
creating a lot of challenges for the team as they got to know the new coaching staff and the
underclassmen on the team moved up into more leadership roles after losing three senior starters
to injury. Additionally, the team was ranked No. 8 in the IWLCA preseason polls back in
January, according to UIndy Athletics, and Jones said this served as a wake-up call.
“This team is not last year's team…,” Jones said. “We were ranked low for a team
winning the national championship; to be ranked eighth I think was a little reality check for the
players, like, ‘Hey, this is going to be an uphill battle.’ I think we faced adversity throughout the
season…. We're just ready to prove ourselves.”
There have definitely been obstacles, Jones said, and she tries her best to listen to the
team’s suggestions, as she considers herself mild-mannered and easygoing. Additionally, Jones
said she expressed her own perspective at times but gives the team leeway to show their own
creativity, resulting in a successful collaborative effort. In spite of that, Fowley said they can be a
stubborn group of girls but Jones overcame that.
“Seventy-five percent of our team right now is returners,” Fowley said. “And we've had
the same program for three years. So it was a challenge to switch over, but a lot of our girls are
loud-mouthed and proud of what they think so it definitely took some change to start fitting into
this new program that's changed for the better. And we've definitely changed some good things
in terms of culture…. We've got some loud personalities.”
Jones said she felt the freshmen and sophomore on the team had to step up and take on
more responsibilities to fill those extra spots. These players did not have a chance to be freshmen
on the team and take the time to hone their skills as they had to play their best from the
beginning, Jones said. And while the goal has always been to defend the title and win the
championship, there is still improvement to be made before then, she said. According to Fowler,
this also includes working on the chemistry among the offensive players.
“To win the conference tournament and things that we're going to need to do is, I think
offensively [is to] still continue to improve our motions and sets and our execution,” Jones said.
“Defense, we're still working in a couple players. We're working our one senior we lost back into
the defense. So every day we're working on every part of our game. Just making sure we cover
the details that it's going to take for us to be successful to achieve the goal of winning the
conference.”
