The Season ahead...
Inside IC Women’s Lacrosse uphill battle this year
The IC women’s 1s lacrosse team have a tough season ahead of them. After moving up a league, facing injuries across the team, and losing some of their top goal-scorers as they graduate, the team is going to have to work together as a unit to make a play for the win.
After winning the league last season, having not lost a single match, the women’s 1s lacrosse team moved up a league, from Southeastern tier 1a to Premier south 2. This is a massive jump as they now play against the likes of Exeter, Cambridge, Kings, UCL, and Cardiff, all highly skilled teams, meaning that the IC women’s team will be put to the test this weekend. They will also be competing to win cup matches throughout the term, which are separate to the league, competing for the BUCS National trophy.
This team does have some top tier players though: Arya Singh, their president, is a National academy goalie (part of the UK Lacrosse pathway), and Sarah Gresham, who won a national championship in the US playing at the University of North Carolina, one of the top lacrosse universities in the world. Clearly, a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, the team was facing injuries going into their first match against Exeter 2’s on Wednesday. Arya was out for this match due to a mild concussion, whilst Sarah has torn her ACL. Sophie, their centre, has injured her ankle and, their backup goalie has broken her wrist as well, which left the team scrambling for a goalie before their match on Wednesday.
Nonetheless, their 1s captain, Noelle Lau, seems positive heading into the season. Following the taster sessions she recalls seeing some standouts with some very strong defenders out of the batch of freshers. Additionally, the team has some American players, a huge advantage as the US is ‘so far ahead in lacrosse, they’re untouchable’. Noelle seemed to emphasise creating a positive team environment by celebrating their own goals and making it a bonding experience. She went on to say ‘I want to forget the scoreline on Wednesday, we’re going to follow our own thing’.
And they stayed true to that sentiment. A week later she reported that “vibes were 100000%” despite the 27-1 loss to Exeter 2s.