By Lucas Van Deventer
Staff Writer
The New England Women’s and Men’s Conference (NEWMAC) tournament for the Springfield College women’s lacrosse team is right around the corner. The teams are getting ready, and Springfield has qualified for the tournament.
In order for the Pride to be prepared for the tournament, it has to take practices one at a time to fully grasp the most efficient strategies for their next games to come. The Pride’s conference record stands at 5-2 and 9-6 overall. Head coach Kristen Mullady talked about their viewpoint on the week of practices and the game this weekend which is heading close to the tournament.
“We have been doing a good job of taking it day by day. This week is pretty huge for practices because we don’t play until Saturday, so we’re going to continue our competitive practices and our work ethic is really good and consistent,” Mullady said.
The main focus is to keep the players healthy as well as getting the practice in to stay consistent in attacking the coach’s game plan. It takes a whole team effort to get the job done in actual competition. Sticking to the game plan will benefit the team’s performance as a measurement of progress. As of right now, their experience of playing tough competition will reflect in the tournament games.
“The experience throughout the beginning of the season playing such a tough schedule and once we were learning from those games and the experience we are having at competitive practices have helped us to grow,” Mullady said.
The strength of the schedule they had to face puts the Pride in a comfortable position of going out in games and competing to their best abilities. Recently, Springfield has won six consecutive games having strong performances. Using the practices competitively have helped shape their team effectively for individuals and the team.
As Springfield moves closer to the quarterfinals in the NEWMAC tournament, the focus is to be consistent and to follow the game plan that is set. Trusting each other and working aggressively makes the competition less intimidating. The Pride have a great unit offensively and defensively. If they stick to their strategies and rely on what they are working on in practices this week, the Pride will find success.
“We have been talking a lot about consistency and leadership. Right now, these past games we have been consistent on how we are playing and we are following through with our game plan during our games. That has helped us a lot,” Mullady said.
Springfield is finding its momentum for the upcoming tournament. The players have to come ready to stick with the game plan and stay aggressive. The team is showing who the leaders are to carry them farther into the tournament. The Pride have had opportunities offensively to give them successful showing against their competition.
As the statistics prove Springfield is offensively aggressive, this is hopefully going to carry over in the games to come. The Pride on average take about 27 shots on goal per game that gives them leverage in the aspect of the attack. This allows them to have a lot of opportunities to score. If they can find their opportunities from their game plan, then the Pride will find success.
Going into the next games, the players remain ready and excited to play on senior day on Saturday and then prepare for the tournament next week.
“Going into Saturday is our senior day so i know the players are ready and excited to play in honor of the seniors and then head right into the Newmac conference tournament,” Mullady said.
On Saturday at 1pm, Springfield hosts the Emerson Lions as the Pride honor their seniors for the last game before the NEWMAC tournament. The tournament is set to begin on Tuesday April 30.
Photo courtesy Springfield College Athletics