Lehigh women’s lacrosse rakes in fall ball victories

The Lehigh women’s lacrosse team kicked off their fall ball season with two wins against  Drexel, the No. 21 team, and Long Island University last weekend. 

As they prepare for a competitive spring, this success has built confidence and provides the team with the opportunity to strengthen cohesive game play. 

Attacker Shannon Nolan said senior goalkeeper Julia DeLitta and junior attacker Kacie Wines have been recognized by coach Jill Redfern as key players on the team, as they had the biggest impact on the team’s victories. 

Preparing for these games after a summer away from lacrosse was crucial, and DeLitta said their fall workouts are important after a summer away from lacrosse. These include lifting and conditioning, fast paced workouts to prepare for game-like scenarios and injury prevention.

DeLitta also said bonding among the team is crucial at this stage in the season. There are 10 newcomers on the team this year who have to adapt to the new coaches, the team environment, the training schedule and learning how to play together. 

DeLitta said seeing the new team members apply what they’ve learned in practice and games and having it pay off through fast break goals is nice to see.  

The team mentally prepared for these first games by restating their team goals for the day, including what they want to accomplish to stay focused on during the game. 

DeLitta said during the fall season, she tries to be in the moment and have fun with her teammates, remembering the regular season has not begun yet. 

“Going into a game, I try to just clear my head as much as I can, load myself up with confidence as much as I can and then have a super good warm up,” DeLitta said. 

DeLitta said playing as a team and working together is important to their success. This includes individual players understanding their roles and the team as a whole communicating with each other and responding effectively to the flow of the game. 

Wines said on offense the team has been trying to move the ball quickly and work their way down into the shot clock instead of forcing it at the beginning. 

She also said the team entered their early games knowing they were scrimmages they had the ability to win. 

“I feel like winning is always fun,” Wines said. “It just mattered on connecting the pieces.”

With Drexel ranked in the top 25 teams in the nation, DeLitta said the win was a huge accomplishment. 

“They have top ranked players on their team,” DeLitta said. “They have an amazing coach who plays on the US lacrosse team, and they were top 25 and made it to the NCAA tournament.”

Nolan said team culture is currently  positive and  morale has been boosted by these early wins.  

“We had a lot of people who sparked a ton of energy and confidence on our team, which was our goalie, (DeLitta), and attacker, (Wines),” Nolan said. “Because of that, everyone is super excited for one another to succeed.”