The DePauw women's lacrosse team defeated the Wilmington Quakers 26-6 in the Tiger's first inaugural game on Wednesday afternoon.
The game started off quickly, with DePauw's first goal scored by sophomore midfielder Carey Kunz after only 55 seconds of play.
Of the Quaker's six goals, four were scored by junior middle-defensemen Rachel Gutowski.
Multiple goals were not a rarity for the Tigers either, especially for sophomore attacker Hailey Ware, who scored three points throughout the game.
After practicing since the beginning of the semester, the team was ready to play its first game.
"We were in preseason for about a month and a half, which felt like forever," Ware said. "Once the game started, we were finally working for something."
The team's first game of the season was cancelled due to inclement weather this past Sunday. The team had been slated to travel to Chicago to face off against North Central College.
"We had a rough past few weeks in terms of weather especially after our cancelled game on Sunday," DePauw's head coach Susanna Wilcox said. "So I think we were just ready. We were definitely excited and ready to begin."
Wilcox was hired to help bring this program to a varsity level for the current 2013 season and her coaching seems to be working.
"The girls are extremely dedicated, very supportive and love each other," Wilcox said. "The work ethic they display has been huge. The switch from club to varsity has been a lot easier than I anticipated it to be."
But looking forward in the season, there are more challenges to be faced than just the first game of the season.
"Yesterday was a great way to begin our program, but we play a hard schedule," Wilcox said. "A lot of teams in our conference are strong, nationally ranked programs. And it gets harder. We can't continue to make some of the mistakes we made yesterday and expect to be successful."
During Wednesday's game, the team went into halftime with a lead of 18-3. DePauw's goalie, junior Amy Clark, had never played a game of lacrosse before the match-up against Wilmington on Wednesday.
The team is supporting each other and has grown closer as they have begun to work toward the rest of their season.
"Over time we've gotten closer [as a team], but now that we've had a game, we build off of each other with our energy," Ware said. "We set each other up for our individual strengths on the field. We know what we're all good at."
The first game has set the team up with new goals to reach as the season continues.
"Now that we have played a game and know what we need to work on, we have something to base our season off of and something to work for," sophomore defender Ella Smoot said. "We're not just practicing to play against ourselves anymore."
The girls will travel to Franklin, Ind. next Wednesday, March 20 to face the Franklin College Grizzlies in their second game of the season.