The women’s lacrosse team endures the harsh Geneseo weather in order to prepare for their 2017 season. The women’s first game will take place on March 1 in a home game against St. Lawrence University. (Ash Dean/Photo Editor)
The Geneseo women’s lacrosse team is anticipating the beginning of their 2017 spring season, with their first game scheduled for Wednesday March 1. Looking to pick up where they left off last spring, the women are expecting to be successful and to have a fair shot at the SUNYAC title.
With the buildup of positive momentum from the 2016 season, the women hope to expand on it in order to capture another SUNYAC title. During the 2016 campaign, head coach Carly Ritchlin led this team to a 12-6 regular season record. More importantly, the women conquered their own conference, finishing the year with a 6-2 record against divisional opponents.
After the regular season concluded, they competed in their 16th SUNYAC Tournament semifinal game in the past 18 years. This seems to be a nod toward the potential this team has for the upcoming year.
When looking forward to the season, Ritchlin is anxious and cannot wait to be competing once again. She holds strong standards for this team.
“This team has worked very hard in the offseason to improve on their skills,” Ritchlin said. “There has been much adapting and adjusting, as new systems were established since last season.”
Ultimately, she is convinced that the strong offseason work can carry over into the season.
“We have a lot of talent on this team,” Ritchlin said. “There are numerous goal-scorers and athletes who can play strong defense. If we hold to this standard, we can win a lot of games and be successful.”
Though several new players joined the team, Ritchlin does not believe this is a sign of weakness.
“We have to set the bar high every year,” Ritchlin said. “The ultimate goal is to win the NCAA Tournament.”
There were nine freshmen added to the ranks this offseason. Several are playing at a high level, according to Ritchlin. These freshmen look to help contribute to the team’s success early and often. Even though the season has not yet started and the women have yet to be tested, strengths and weaknesses of the team have already been apparent.
“We are a very good team, but our real strengths lie in our speed, stick-work and the ability to shoot and score,” Ritchlin said. “We are a very talented team with a lot of good players.”
Their weakness, however, lies in the fact that they are a young team.
“Even though we are so young, we attempt to equip every player on this team with the tools and skills to be successful if called upon,” Ritchlin said.
This team is primed to repeat the success of last spring. With such lofty goals for so young of a group, it will be interesting to see how these players perform during the season.
The team is set to play their first game against St. Lawrence University on Wednesday March 1 at 4 p.m. There, they will look to begin their journey toward a title.