The spring-like weather and the greening of Miller fields could only mean that the women’s lacrosse spring season is in full effect, and they are doing better than in the past couple of seasons.

The women’s lacrosse team has raised their roster numbers almost three-fold since spring 2010. The club teams co-presidents, Courtney Drummond and Courtney Sparr, have put their hard work together to create a team that has been better than ever for the past few seasons.

“We have at least 25 girls at every game and 20 girls at each practice,” Courtney Drummond, a junior in civil engineering said. “We are now able to host practice no matter if it’s rain or shine due to high participation.”

The team has always had girls coming out to practices and games, however the lack of three or four girls to complete a full squad seemed to bring morale and hopes down for the girls. A regulation lacrosse squad requires twelve players on the field, which is something the team lacked in the past. The team would continuously have to forfeit their games last year and borrow a few opposing players just to scrimmage.

The fact that lacrosse is a favored sport in the north more than it is in the south explains one of the reasons for low outcomes. It is not that the team cannot find decent, skilled players, just that it’s difficult to find girls to commit to the team and play.

Nonetheless the team leaders mastered the right ways of recruiting new players on to the squad. Following up to the methods of an old teammate who both played and coached, both Drummond and Sparr, who have been a part of the women’s lacrosse team since freshman year, had a few new ideas when it came to rules and goals for the new squads. 

“Coming to games and practices is a requirement of the ladies,” Sparr, a junior in biological engineering, said. “We put in incentives and rewards for attendance, even giving back some of their dues.”

With the addition of multiple game and practice squads in the fall, the team has figured out its chemistry both on and off the field.

“The team bonding and relationships have grown,” Drummond said. “We are working together better and high attendance just means more possibility for success.”

With a majority of the squad consisting of freshman and sophomores, it can be considered a relatively young team; but with the guidance of some of the veteran players like Drummond and Sparr, the team can only continue improving.

“A lot of the new girls are picking up the game quickly,” Drummond said. “From all the participation and skill improvements, we have seen a lot of positive outcome.”

This spring season the Wolfpack women have had four games, two home and two away. Although the team fell to opponents for all four games, there has been major improvement. Final scores have begun to get closer and games tend to have a much more exciting edge to them compared to past seasons, such as the close 12-8 loss to Duke this spring.

“I am so proud of everything the girls have done this year,” Sparr said. “On Sunday, we beat UNC on the specifics like interceptions and other statistics. We have been very strong in fundamentals this year, so not receiving a ‘W’ on the score sheet it less important to us than beating them across the board.”

The team has an exciting schedule lined up for the season as they take on Elon at 1p.m. this Saturday April 3rd. Following that the team will be traveling to for a tournament weekend in Wilmington the second weekend of April where the Pack will have the opportunity to go up against some of the home state talent as it goes up against Appalachian State, Elon and UNCC.