Photo credit to Jessi Langlais

The MSUM women’s lacrosse team has finished the spring part of its season after it was cut short because of the weather.

The club has 11 players   right now, one short of having a full team of 12 but that hasn’t stopped them from playing hard each time they step on the field.

“We had to work a little harder than other teams since we were a player short,” captain Vivian Pankow said.

The women’s lacrosse team plays in both fall and spring, with the team playing most tournaments in the Twin Cities area. The team is involved in league play that keeps them fresh for the spring part of their season.

The team recently hosted a tournament at NDSU that seven other teams also competed in.

In the tournament, the team won three out of five games finishing their season.

“We really have a lot of fun when we play,” Pankow said.

The team is led by the  team captains; they do not have a formal coach to help them during games or practice.

Senior Jessi Langlais said that both Concordia and NDSU have teams as well.

“The season went pretty well,” Pankow said.

This is the seventh year the club has been at MSUM, and it continues to grow each year with new players.

Pankow said the goals the team set for the season were to have fun and to recruit more players to  the team.

Photo credit to Jessi Langlais

With lacrosse growing in popularity in the Midwest, the team is open to players that may or may not have played before.

“You don’t need experience to play … the captains and other players will teach you to play if you haven’t played before,” Langlais said.

She said that the team has fun when they play and that it doesn’t matter so much about the wins and losses. They want to get people interested in the sport.

Langlais described lacrosse as similar to hockey where there is a goalie and centers on the field that do the face off and try and get the ball in the goal. There are usually 12 players on the field at one time, including the goalie.

Both Langlais and Pankow agreed that the weather played a big factor in their season, both for games and where they could play.

“We had a really short season and our tournament was at NDSU because our field is still covered in snow,” Langlais said.

But the weather didn’t stop the team from making the most of its opportunites to play.

“We want the club to keep growing each year,” Langlais said.

Pankow agreed with Langlais, saying that the team welcomes new players who want to learn about lacrosse and loves to have new people on the team.

Pankow said the team is a closely bonded group and that it helps when playing a game to know that your teammates are going to be there.

The team is building off of the successful season for the next time they take the field.

BY BREANN LENZMEIER
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