VCU women’s lacrosse looks to ‘keep fighting’

Andrew McGhan, Contributing Writer

The VCU women’s lacrosse team has played in five games so far this season with a 3-2 record, according to VCU Athletics. 

With the program being in its sixth year, the team hopes to make a culture where they are competitive and trust one another, according to head coach Nicole Flores. 

“We’re going to face plenty of opponents who are bigger than us and potentially stronger than us and you still got to play the game,” Flores said. “So we got to be able to compete, we got to trust our systems and have belief in one another.”

The team understands that some teams are more athletic than them, but they still have to compete and trust in their tactics to win games, according to Flores.

The defense has been causing frequent turnovers — through the first four games, the team has caused 61 turnovers, according to VCU Athletics.

There are many players that are going to stand out on the defensive end this season, according to Flores.

“On our defensive end, Claire Harris and Meghna Dawar but I have already seen it, even Emma Barber just like causes turnovers left and right down,” Flores said. “So our D’s [defense] is definitely playing really well right now.” 

The players that would be standout on the offensive end are senior attacker Juliana George and junior midfielder Kelsey McDonnell, according to Flores.

“Juliana George and Kelsey McDonnell are definitely our two top offensive threats, but we’re bouncing out a little bit better than we did last year, which is nice,” Flores said.

George led the team in goals with 31 goals accounted for last year and McDonnell was the second leading scorer for the team with 30 goals, according to VCU Athletics.

With the season just starting the coaching staff feels happy about the team’s competitiveness and energy on the field, according to Flores. They point to the win against Elon University as a turning point for the team to show that playhard for 60 minutes.

“I think the overtime win versus Elon was a big turning point for us, with just proving to ourselves that we can hang and finish what we start,” Flores said. 

The team also has to make sure that a game considered as an easy win, they should win, according to McDonnell. When they play in competitive games they need to find a way to come out with a win. 

“I think throughout the season, we just need to keep fighting,” McDonnell said. “The easy wins need to be easy wins and then games that are competitive, we need to come out with a win in order to continue to be successful.” 

Even with wanting to score more goals than the previous season, it’s more important to win games, according to McDonnell. 

“I’m just happy to win and if the goals come with it, that’s obviously good,” McDonnell said.

The team’s camaraderie is high, everyone on the team are best friends from the freshmen to the seniors, according to George. 

“We’ve implemented a new defense, which I think is improving our whole team as a whole which is huge for us,” George said.

The team pushes each other everyday at practice, according to George. She makes sure that she pushes herself and her teammates to continue to improve throughout the season.