Wittenberg has always had a winning tradition in sports. Winning has definitely been a part of the Women’s lacrosse program this season with the record of 11-2 overall and 5-2 in the conference. The Tigers also have been holding a four-game winning streak with the last win over Wooster April 27 with the score of 18-8.
The team is pretty young with five seniors, three juniors,and the rest sophomores and freshmen. Based on head coach Nicholle St. Pierre, she did things a little different as far as the off season plans. St. Pierre stated, “We are a young team, and we have been growing… we focused more on fundamentals because we are much younger, and with having an older team in the past, we had focused more on conditioning.”
St. Pierre came to Wittenberg in 2014, replacing Beth Hemminger. Last season, Wittenberg lacrosse went 11-4 under her coaching strategies with an appearance in the NCAC conference tournament with a loss to Oberlin in the semifinals, proving her strategy and coaching abilities are sufficient.
This season, with the success of the team, St. Pierre has instilled some important tips into her team that apply to the season and the circumstances that they face. She said of these tips: “Don’t let what officials call affect the way you play the game, stick together, and have each others’ back.”
With having a few losses that could have made an impact on the season, the team has managed to perservere through the adversity. The team has a strong bond, depending on each other.
“At the beginning of the year, we had a struggle, but to see how we pulled ourselves out of it was cool,” said lacrosse player Madeline Stock, ‘19. “As a freshman, it is really cool coming in to a successful team; it is really cool to see how well everybody works together on and off the field.”
With the success St. Pierre has had last year and this year, she is looking forward to making strides with the team in the future. She wants to continue in her success with the team and begin to make a big impact as far as who the Lady Tigers are.
“I wish that we continually get better and get to play more top racked lacrosse teams on the east coast so they get to know Wittenberg and know that we are a powerhouse in the Midwest,” St. Pierre said.
The women lacrosse team is approaching the end of the season with an opportunity to go to the NCAC conference tournament and possibly the NCAA tournament.
“I believe anything is possible with this conference, but the way we continue in our momentum and growing as a team, we will have a great chance at making it to the NCAA tournament,” she said.
