The 2017 women’s lacrosse team has a lot to live up to coming after a season in which they made a deep run into the playoffs. The team lost many of their seniors from last year, but a mix of returning members and brand new talent will create an interesting dynamic that leaves plenty unknowns. The team is off to a 7-1 start and they are looking to keep their streak going far into the season.

 Captain Camryn Blawas knows that losing the seniors from last year will hurt the team at first, but she hopes the team will turn out fine. She also thinks that as a returning player she can help bring up the younger players on the team.  

“Last year we had nine seniors that were all really good and two of them went off to play in college,” Blawas said. “Losing them definitely hurt us, but there are also a lot of returning players so hopefully it won’t be bad. We have a lot of seniors, and we pass a lot down to the younger players.”

Senior Hanna Anderson is stepping into the role of captain this year, and she thinks that the team is coming along well. The team’s transition from last year has been smooth.

“ We brought in a lot of good new players, and we’ve all gotten really close and have gotten to know each other,” Anderson said. “We have a really good connection, and it hasn’t been hard to adapt at all.”

Due to the fact that many valuable players were lost, Raven Mclaurin thinks it will be hard to make it as far in the playoffs this year. Having that said, she still thinks the team is capable of accomplishing a lot.

“We went to the final four last year and we lost to Cardinal Gibbons. I don’t know if we will make it to the final four this year,” McLaurin said. “I hope we do, and I think we definitely have a chance to win a conference championship. We have a lot of good freshmen that just came in to replace all of our seniors from last year.”

McLaurin has a new role on the team this year that she hopes will improve the overall performance of everyone around her. Along with this new role, she has set some personal goals to push her throughout the season.

“I was midfielder last year, but now I’m a defender so I am playing a lot more this year,” McLaurin said. “Even though I am a defender I still want to score this year. I want to have at least three goals by the end of the season. My goals for the team are to win the conference championship, beat Broughton, and make it far into the playoffs.”

In the playoffs last year, the team was eliminated by the eventual champions, Cardinal Gibbons. While the team has accepted the result, some players such as Blawas are upset at the advantages that Cardinal Gibbons gets over their competition.

“I think there tends to be a lot of things that they do that we don’t get that gives them a little bit of an advantage, but we have to compete against them anyways,” Blawas said. “  I think it is unfair that we end up playing them since they are a private school and we are a public school.”

Madison Morgan thinks that the Cardinal Gibbons’ capabilities are unfair. They are legally allowed to participate in certain activities that public schools are banned from doing.

“I don’t think it’s fair because all of the other teams are only allowed to work together during the season, but Gibbons is allowed to practice together the entire year,” Morgan said. “I don’t think there  is much that we can do because it is hard to prove that they are recruiting people, but I think it should be looked into.”