Lacrosse club looks to next season

The IU women's club lacrosse team finished the regular season April 15 at home with a dominant 17-1 win against Taylor University. With the win, the team concluded its regular season with a 7-5 record and finished in third place in its division of the Women's Collegiate Lacrosse League. The league consists of 53 teams divided into seven divisions from the Midwest.\nIn order to make the 12-team playoff tournament, the team needed to either win its division or receive an at-large bid. Strength of schedule is also a determining factor for whether a team makes the playoffs. However, the team, which made the playoffs last year with an 8-2 mark, did not advance this year. \n"We had some key losses to Miami of Ohio and Dayton in our division kept us out of the playoffs," freshman Anne Johnson said.\nThe team traveled to Michigan and Truman State during the month of March for two different three-game series. At Michigan, the team fell to the Wolverines 11-2 and Illinois, 9-8 in overtime. Their lone win came against Ball State in the form of a 12-1 victory. \nAt Truman State, the Hoosiers defeated Washington University at St. Louis, 6-4, and then also amassed victories against Truman State in overtime, 5-4, and St. Louis,14-0.\nIn April, the team continued its road trip, traveling to both Dayton and Miami of Ohio. The team had wins over Hope College, 10-1, and Cincinnati, 8-1. They fell to Dayton, 3-2, Pittsburgh, 7-1, and Miami of Ohio, 8-3. \nThe Hoosiers were a very young team this spring season -- mostly comprised of freshmen and sophomores -- and had only one senior and one junior on the squad. They encountered many teams with more seasoned players, yet the Hoosiers did not let that get to them, sophomore captain Melissa Goepfrich said.\n"Playing against older players on other teams doesn't bother me or the team -- it doesn't faze us," she said.\nGoepfrich, along with teammate Robyn Freedman-Schnapp, led the team in points and goals scored for the Hoosiers. \nFreedman-Schnapp led the team with 11 assists and 24 goals for a total of 35 points. Goepfrich added 14 goals and eight assists to round out her point total to 22.\nThe team also participates in a fall season aimed for fun and recreation. It usually enters a tournament and play about three games. As far as next season is concerned, assistant coach Lisa Weber is hoping to retain a lot of the young team. \n"As a club sport, sometimes it's hard to keep players from year to year due to academics, sororities etc.," Weber said. "I'm hopeful everyone will come back and I think that they will." \n-- Contact staff writer Ryan Corazza at rcorazza@indiana.edu.