Attitude the Name of the Game for Scots' Women's Lacrosse Fall Ball
Monmouth, IL (11/30/2020) — With their promising season canceled after just three games last spring, the Monmouth College women's lacrosse team entered their 2020 fall ball practice season with a bit of an attitude.
"Yeah, I think the returners all had a little bit of a chip on their shoulder after the pandemic canceled our spring season," said Elizabeth Demara, whose team scored a 13-11 win in the final contest of 2020 and had dropped the opener by just one goal in a season where they were poised to turn the corner. "We talked a lot about how we'd look this year after we graduated our top two scorers (Kara-Jade Gordon and Amanda Green). They're excited to see what our offense will look like and who will step into a scoring role. Overall, I was really happy with how we looked in fall ball."
Demara wasn't the only person to be excited to return to the field.
"Everyone was really happy to be back and play," reported Demara, whose squad hadn't taken the field as a team in over six months. "Really, everyone entered fall much improved from the spring."
Like the spring, the Scots' fall season ended a bit earlier than planned, but only by one week, a major improvement from the spring when the season was canceled after just seven days. Demara had a clear vision of what her team needed to do in the fall workouts.
"We spent a lot of time early on individual skills," she said. "Because we started with small groups, there was a lot of technical and technique focus. It was nice for me to have the small group sizes. I could give more individual instruction. That allowed for immediate feedback to make the necessary adjustments and do some fine tuning."
The group size eventually grew to the full squad, but due to COVID protocol restrictions, contact was prohibited. Demara found a positive, even with the restrictions.
"We had to get creative to simulate game action, but without the contact," she said. "We worked on offensive and defensive concepts in a noncontact form. Because we were so focused on our skills, we improved quite a bit this fall."
The Scots not only reaped the benefit of intense ball-handling skills, including the ever popular shooting and scoring, they also got more reps with the ball.
"The smaller groups gave everyone on the team more reps at each practice," reported Demara. "More reps means more opportunities for improvement, and everyone got better. Had this been a normal fall with a full squad at each practice, we may not have seen as much individual improvement. I like to focus on individual improvement in the fall anyway, so it wasn't that far out of our norm other than the increased one-on-one instruction. It will be interesting to see how the women implement in the spring what they did in the fall. The upperclassmen are anxious and ready to step up."
Demara's freshmen are also anxious, but in another way.
"The freshmen are doing a really good job of adjusting to college lacrosse, and college overall for that matter," praised Demara. "They're all strong students and have found a good balance of academics, athletics and social life. I was concerned for the freshmen, starting their college careers in the middle of a pandemic, but our upperclassmen have done an amazing job welcoming them, and not just on the field."
Junior Sarah Poirier and sophomore Madison Meldrum, both active in Greek life on campus, are in charge of their "Little," freshman Tori Cook.
"Sarah and Madison are just the example of how our returners have kept the freshmen engaged and included," said Demara. "They're really making the newcomers feel at home."
Demara is counting on the bonds built this fall to pay dividends the next time the team takes to the field - hopefully, this spring.
"I was really pleased with our team dynamics," said a confident Demara. "Everyone was so positive when we finally got to go to full team practices."
Calling it "Full Team Fridays," the Scots appeared ready to start the season….today.
"They were happy to be there and 'compete' to a degree," reported Demara of the waning weeks of fall practice. "All of the players, including the freshmen, had experienced that loss of season from the spring. The freshmen lost their senior year of high school lacrosse and our returners lost a very promising spring. To a person, they all have a newfound appreciation for being able to play. Many of them have friends at other colleges who aren't even having classes on their campuses and are away from their teammates. Their appreciation for what Monmouth has been able to do, keeping us on campus all fall and being able to practice, has given them a new mindset to not take anything for granted."
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