Stop me if you heard this before, but Saint Leo is turning around another program. The Saint Leo Women’s Lacrosse team has been on a tear to open their season, starting off with an impressive 3-0 record. This is coming off a season where the team won six games total and placed fifth in the Sunshine State Conference.
To open up the season, the Lions have victories over Molloy College, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and Davenport.
“We set a goal for the season that we want to win at least 12 games. The team is really focused on that goal, so we needed a strong start to get us moving in the right direction. We only have 17 regular season games, so there is not much wiggle room on the way to the 12-win mark,” coach Caitlin Hansen stated.
The team has been doing a lot to ensure they will reach the mark they have set up. The most wins by a women’s lacrosse team at Saint Leo was 10, which they reached in 2014. The team has been stellar on offense, scoring a total of 54 goals during the three-game win streak. The team has been able to score early and often as the Lions have headed into halftime with a big lead.
“I knew that we had the ability to score goals. We are fast offensively and have multiple threats, but to have 10 goal leads going into halftime certainly exceeded my expectations. I also really enjoy seeing just how many people have been scoring goals each game. Nearly everyone who crosses into our attacking end has put one in the back of the net in each of the last three games,” Hansen added.
The thing that separates this team from others is that no player is shooting all of their shots. In three games, there have been three players (Leslie Ferguson, Kaylah Walstad, Sabrina Sanacore) that reached double-digit point totals and 12 players that have recorded at least one point. There are returning players from last season doing a lot of things to help the team, but the freshman presence is being felt as well.
“The veteran-like play of freshman Sarah Pierson between the 30s has been the biggest thing of note for me this early in the season. We knew that she would be strong on draw controls, but her groundballs and caused turnovers in the midfield on top of her draws have given us so many possessions. You cannot score without the ball, and Sarah comes up with the ball a lot.”
Pierson is currently leading the team with 14 groundballs and is giving the team extra opportunities to score, which the team is taking advantage of.
Even with all the focus on the offense, the defense has been incredible, only giving up double-digit goals once this season, which is something the team sees just as important to their scoring outbursts.
“Our offense is putting up big numbers, but I think our defensive unit has actually been the real story early on. Our goal is to hold opposing teams to 10 goals or less, and we have done that each game. We have seen great work in the cage from both Erin Davis and Becca Halley, and we have played strong D in both our man-to-man and zone, which I know will prepare us for our strong conference schedule.”
The team has seen recent success after a few seasons where the Lions did not look or feel as competitive as they do this season. Sometimes it takes a shakeup for a team to gel or just the chemistry to be right. This women’s lacrosse team seems to click, and it is clear to see.
“I really enjoy coaching this team. I do not think we have struggled with ‘buying in’ to my coaching,” Hansen said. “I feel the team has been open to the change and learning new/different things. If anything, the difficulty has been for the players to truly recognize and embrace their own individual talents and go all out. We are growing more confident each game though, and I think it’s only a matter of time before we really break out.”
Make sure to go and check out the Lions when they return for a four-game home stand starting March 7.
