As lacrosse delves into a slate of exhibition fall ball games, the team is working vigorously to iron out its regimens and incorporate new talent before battling Atlantic 10 competition in the spring.
On the heels of a spring season where the team went 2-8 in the A-10 and 8-9 overall, Head Coach Colleen McCaffery is preparing the squad’s large cohort of freshmen — 11 in total — for the challenge of collegiate play, leaning on her recently named captains to bring them up to speed. McCaffery said she intends to use the fall to improve fundamentals, including stick handling, athleticism and intuition, while also integrating newcomers and gauging the team’s level of competitiveness.
“We have 11 great freshmen coming in, so we’re really excited about them,” McCaffery said. “The main thing I want to look to improve is our A-10 games. That’s going to be a focus all year, but it’s fall now, so we’re building a foundation for that.”
Before the official season begins in February, the lacrosse team will take the field this fall for a series of exhibition games, primarily against local opponents that bear no influence on the team’s NCAA or A-10 standings. After opening with games against George Mason and William & Mary on Saturday, the team will face four more opponents: University of Maryland, Baltimore County on October 3, England’s National Team on October 7, Longwood University on October 18 and Gettysburg College on October 25.
As a starting point, McCaffery is emphasizing the basics. She said lacrosse is working with Eric Guthrie, a director of strength and conditioning, every day for conditioning and agility training, as well as hitting the weight room three times a week. She said the players are pushing each other to be faster and stronger.
“Our eleven freshmen, they bring a new level of athleticism just with their basic skill, so I think they’ve already started to elevate and push our upperclassmen to work harder,” McCaffery said.
McCaffery said the freshmen who she worked to recruit after being impressed by the class’s overall talent have gelled with the upperclassmen in their first weeks in Foggy Bottom. McCaffery said the freshmen have shown “amazing attitudes” and strong work ethics.
The new crop of players includes attack and midfield Sophia Im, who earned two USA Lacrosse All-American honors in high school and helped to lead her team to become Washington state champions in her senior year, winning MVP. The other All-American joining the team, Attack Mia Milkowski, also won Second Team All-State in her native New Jersey last year.
“They’re soaking everything in, they go very hard and they’re committed, and now it’s our job to teach them through the lacrosse IQ piece,” McCaffery said. “And with our systems, our terms, they’ve gotten thrown into the mix really easily, and they’re making a name for themselves.”
She added that many of the newcomers will be competing for a starting roster spot and that she plans to use fall ball games to experiment with lineup combinations.
“The transition from high school to college is a big jump in terms of the speed of play,” McCaffery said.
To help the rookies acclimate to the challenges of college-level play, McCaffery is working to strengthen their lacrosse intuition by drawing up strategies on a whiteboard in a forum she calls a “chalk talk,” reviewing practice film and walking players through movements on the field. The rigor of fall ball training — while primarily intended for freshmen — extends to the entire lacrosse roster of 32, working within their NCAA-mandated practice restrictions.
“In the fall, we start off with eight-hour weeks, and that’s all we’re permitted,” McCaffery said. “So we ease into our foundational things, like our stick work, our fitness, our small number drills, man out, man down. As we’ve progressed each week, we’ve implemented different systems.”
McCaffery said she’s especially excited to play against the English team, calling them the “best of the best from England.” She added that the team will be hosted by several NCAA schools during their trip to the United States, and a previous connection with the team’s coach helped secure the Revolutionaries’ place on their schedule.
“I’ve had international playing experience, but I haven’t competed as a coach yet,” McCaffery said. “So we’ll see. I think we’re going to do a combo of international and collegiate rules, so we’ll see how that works.”
On Friday morning, McCaffery named four seniors — midfielder Kiki Rotay, defender Parker Cranz, attacker Gracie Burke and defender Stella Ray — as team captains.
Rotay said her responsibility to the freshmen — many of whom, she noted, also play midfield — is to help them stay “afloat” as they navigate the unique challenges of the position. She does this by serving as a positive role model and a reliable sounding board.
In addition to their roles as captains, both Rotay and Cranz said they hope to use fall ball to sharpen their individual games — tweaking both their offensive instincts and defensive awareness as they prepare for the spring season.
“Individually, I’ve been working on winning my matchups, winning more 1v1s, holding more 1v1s on defense and hold my own individual plays, individual matchups,” Rotay said.
For the group, Rotay and Cranz said fall ball is beneficial to let players settle into their roles and discover how their unique skills contribute to the team at large.
“Finding everyone’s niche and where they fit in on the field, I feel like, is always a big thing in the fall,” Cranz said.
McCaffery said the captains and the other veterans in the senior class help to “elevate” the rest of the team and the freshmen, applying the experience and lessons they’ve learned from their first three years.
“They fully understand the systems, the terms, the level of accountability and excellence that we are very demanding of here, but they’re the ones who set the tone on the field and off the field with the rest of the team,” McCaffery said.
