By Lindsay Carlton
While the rest of Hofstra’s student body was relaxing at home or on the beach on spring break, the women’s lacrosse team was busy at work in Hempstead.
The weekend before spring break officially started, the team was at Shuart Stadium where it defeated Delaware in overtime, 16-13. A day later, they were whisked away to play a conference game against Towson University where they dispatched the Tigers, 15-9.
The Pride got a nice four days off until its next contest at home against William & Mary and notched its third straight victory over the No.13 team in the country, 10-8. With a day to rest in between, the team was back on Shuart turf to go up against Old Dominion. The Pride kept its momentum going with yet another victory, finishing off the Monarchs, 15-7. Playing their seventh and final CAA team in a row, Hofstra traveled four days later to take on Drexel. The Drexel game was close and ended in overtime, but thanks to Casey McGrath’s season-high eight goals, the Pride was able to squeak by, 14-13.
Lastly, the Pride returned home two days later to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores, a 2004 NCAA Final Four participant. Its victory over Vanderbilt was the Pride’s sixth straight win, improving the overall record to 9-6.
The game against Vanderbilt wasn’t like any other game for the Pride. It was the team’s last regular season game at home and for the four seniors on the team it was their last chance to play on the turf they’ve grown so fond of playing on for the last four years.
“It was definitely an emotional day, to think that I was never going to play on that turf again,” senior attack Catherine Guerriere said. “They called our names out and we walked out. I didn’t really want to think about it. I was really trying to stay focused on the game.”
Many of the senior players may or may not go on to play lacrosse after graduation. Like most seniors graduating, this overwhelming transition into the real world is not something everyone is ready for.
“I’m not really sure yet where I want to go to grad school, but I want to continue and maybe try to find a job if I can and see what comes at me and just try to take it one day at a time,” senior captain Jaime Irving said.