Regan Hanood of Capital drives to the goal while
sophomore Nicole Gibson (Center) attempts to ward her away.
DePauw lost the season opener to Capital 9-6.
SAM CARAVANA/THE DEPAUW
Women’s lacrosse started their season off on a different note than they wanted, but are no less discouraged that their season will still be a success based off of a very promising offseason.
Facing Capital University on Wednesday night wasn’t the first time the Tigers have been in competition this year.
“Our offseason involved four weeks of fall ball with a play day tournament at Park Tudor high school with three other teams,” first-year midfielder Alex Boesel said. “We dominated that tournament and were undefeated at the end of the day.”
Unfortunately, the game against Capital didn’t have the same outcome, and the Tigers lost 9-6 on opening day.
“We felt like there were lots of little things that we need to work on, but a lot we attributed to first game jitters; we were all pretty nervous,” first-year attacker Emma Flynn said.
Capital got out to a fast start, scoring three goals in the first eight minutes of the contest. DePauw rallied to tie the game at 3-3 with goals from junior Elizabeth McCracken, senior Carey Kunz and sophomore Nicole Gibson.
The Crusaders then struck with another three goals in a row, and Kunz found the back of the net right before halftime to make the game 4-6 in favor of the Capitals.
“We let a few goals get scored on us early on in the game that caused us to get flustered for a bit, but we were able to settle and become more comfortable during the second half,” Boesel said.
In the second half, Gibson too scored her second goal of the game, closing the scoring gap. However, Capital’s Kara Hines—who had five goals on the day—scored back to back to bring the lead back to three.
Junior Maryclaire Heldring netted the last goal of the game for the Tigers off an assist from sophomore Emily Scinta, her second on the day. Capital scored one more to make the final score 9-6.
“They were really similar to our team since we are also a new program. It was a game where we learned to capitalize (no pun intended) on our strengths and learned what we need to improve on for our next game,” Scinta said.
“We played a hard game even to the last seconds,” said Flynn, “where Liz [Hawkins] our goalie had an incredible save.”
Hawkins had nine saves in the loss.
The Tigers had 31 turnovers in the game and that ultimately cost them.
“Overall I thought our defense played really well and their communication was great,” Gibson said. “We were having trouble with turnovers in the midfield, but that is something we can definitely work on for our next game.”
“I think the game was definitely just a starting point for our team and we will continue to grow and continue to get used to playing as a new team together,” Flynn added.
The one loss hasn’t dampened the Tiger’s spirit, however.
“Our coach told us to keep our heads up and that one game doesn't define an entire season,” Boesel said.
Flynn is optimistic as well: “We have so much talent and have the potential to have a great season.”
The Tigers’ next game is at Reavis Stadium on March 4 when they will host Benedictine at 6 p.m.