By Lindsay Carlton
Whoever said that freshmen players have a hard time fitting in to new teams must have missed the Pride’s women’s lacrosse teams first set of games this year. It’s usually pretty unlikely that you’ll find freshmen landing starting positions not to mention hear them being called one of the teams’ new leaders.
But freshmen midfielder Lauren Whitcomb may be an exception. This four-time all-country selection in Lacrosse player ended her high school career with an ACL injury last year that unfortunately prevented her from finishing her last game as a senior.
The head coach of the Pride women’s lacrosse team, Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe, didn’t even get the chance to see her play in the fall, but she still knew that Lauren would make a great addition to her team. “We knew coming into the year that she was a leader and that was something that we were going to be looking for to help our team this year. She just has a lot of confidence as an athlete, she does all the right things on the field and I think she’s going to be a huge asset for this team this year,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. So far this year Whitcomb has scored three goals for the Pride and I’m sure there will be plenty more to come this year.
It’s nice to think that all teams in a University root for one another. That there’s no cattiness between teams who are more successful than others. But here at the University all cattiness is put to the side and teams actually love cheering on one another.
“Its great to be surrounded by athletes that have the same goals as yourself, everyone wants to be a conference champion and when we can watch our school mates go through the season and feeling success it helps us to be motivated to get to that next level,” Klaes-Bawcombe said.
When the men’s basketball team was spotlighted on ESPN Monday night, many Pride athletes showed up at Hofstra U.S.A. who hosted a party for students to watch the game and cheer on the Pride team.
The University’s club lacrosse team is accepting applications and are allowing anyone interested in lacrosse to come out for the team.
Contact Klaes-Bawcombe for more information about this opportunity.