<st Sunday the fields around the Rec Center were alive with lacrosse. The women’s team hosted the first large lacrosse tournament at Carleton in over two years, attracting eight teams from all over Minnesota and Wisconsin for a day filled to the brim with friendly competition.
The focus of the day was to encourage out-of-season play and to give new players a chance to begin to learn the intricacies of the game. Scores were kept mostly out of formality, and no one was too concerned with winning. The teams played seven per side, instead of the usual twelve, to allow teams with low off-season numbers to participate. Carleton and a few of the other schools fielded two teams each.
As the rain continued to pour down all of last week, there was concern that the fields would be too wet to play on and the team quickly made back-up plans to run the games inside the Rec Center. Much to the delight of all involved, the sun came out on Saturday and dried the fields enough to be used. The day ran smoothly, with the hard work of all the team members and the organization and direction of coach Keren Gudeman and captain Amanda Smith. Despite dropping temperatures, the women kept warm with almost constant play.
The Carleton team played well, especially for only having held three official practices in preparation for the day. Caitlin Unumb ’11 said that “the team came together remarkably well for its first pre-season match, especially considering how many new players are still learning the ropes of the game.” Carleton boasts four players who had their first experience in a lacrosse game on Sunday. They stepped up to the challenge and the team has high hopes for their future contributions.
The team was pleased to see strong performances from three freshmen who played lacrosse in high school. Katie Derrah demonstrated a solid sense of timing on the field and Ali Melton was one of the high scorers of the day. Caitlin Dole, an excellent goalie, will also be a great asset to the team in the upcoming season.
The team relies strongly on its upperclassmen to inspire a sense of unity both on and off the field. Liz Alspach ’10, Eliza Berry ’09, and Amanda Smith ’08, along with being some of the top scorers for the team, demonstrated strong leadership in aiding the new players and helping the team play smoothly. Jamie Haas ’10 and Emma Glidden-Lyon ’08 played a particularly key role in organizing the defense. The team also looks forward to the return from study abroad of some of its central players.
Eliza Berry remarked, “I am incredibly excited that Carleton dominated the one game of the day in which we played with all of our players (instead of sub-dividing into two smaller teams). This bodes well for our regular season when we will naturally all be playing together. I have high expectations for the spring season.”
Despite the cold, the games attracted quite a few spectators, for both Carleton and the visiting teams. The team was thrilled at the support it received from the Carleton community. All the teams played hard and fairly and went home tired, but content. The day was permeated with good sportsmanship from all the teams and a love of the game of lacrosse.