By Aaron Heller //
The Hood College women’s lacrosse team finished its non-conference play with a 4-4 record and has turned its focus to MAC Commonwealth Conference.
The roster, built around 15 underclassmen and eight upperclassmen, is the Blazers’ youngest team in the last couple of years.
Year in and year out, the Blazers find themselves on the outside of the four-team playoff picture, typically finishing in fifth or sixth. However, Blazers coach Emily Barber believes this year is the year to break the streak.
“We are at an awesome place right now with our team culture and our team expectations,” Barber said. “I truly believe that this will continue to help us fight for a playoff spot this year because we have a ton of talent; we just need to put together a full game and be ready to fight against some top teams in our conference.”
With strong teams at the top of the conference, such as York College and Messiah University, the Blazers aim to clinch the four-seed spot and beat out Widener University for the first time in school history.
In the last two seasons, Hood has fallen just one game short of clinching a spot in the playoffs, having lost to Widener both times. Hood is 0-12 when playing Widener University.
“A big thing I believe in is confidence, which we need to have, and we have a solid game plan on both the attacking and defensive ends, so if we stick to that, it will be a great game for us,” Barber said. “We are playing them at home this year, which will definitely help.”
Coach Barber has reiterated one message throughout the entire season that the team needs to play with: “Confidence.”
Barber said she continues to remind them that they are stronger when they work together. “Our message this whole season is have your teammates back,” she said. “You see a teammate with their head down, you pick them up by cheering or helping them on any play on the field.”
The Blazers open their home conference play on April 8 at 6 p.m. at the Thomas Athletic Field against Alvernia University.
##
Be the first to comment