On February 20th, 2017, The Torch interviewed at the time, student-athlete for the Women’s Lacrosse Team, Becca Joseph. Now, we sat down with her to ask her some questions about herself, her team, and her time at Witt as a student-athlete turned coach.
Coach Joseph is going into her 3rd season as the Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach at Wittenberg. Joseph is very informed about the lacrosse team here because she graduated from Wittenberg in 2019 and was a student-athlete on the Lacrosse team! After graduating from Wittenberg with degrees in Finance and Sport Management, she got her Masters in Sports Administration from The Ohio State University. After earning her Masters, Joseph went on to coach Lacrosse at Earlham College for 1 year and Ohio Northern for 2 years before returning to Wittenberg.
Joseph thinks her fit at Witt as a head coach is a natural one, adding: “I went here and understand the background, the history, the tradition of excellence and I know what the women’s lacrosse team is capable of, I am familiar with the conference, so I think it was a pretty good fit right away.”
Joseph says the team is “Good, picking up where we left off last year, and we have some great freshmen in addition to what we had last year, so it is cool to see the growth we have had. We are already playing at a higher level, so we are moving in the right direction. They’re a high-energy group with a higher lacrosse IQ. We are returning our leading scorer Jessica Flick (senior), on the defensive end we have Zoe Chirumbolo McKee (senior), a captain who has stepped up defensively for us which is cool to see. Anna Roller (sophomore) was the second leading scorer in our scrimmage which from a sophomore is awesome. We have a lot of good freshmen but Aubrey Stager (freshman) is the fastest girl in the world so it is cool to see the kind of where we could place her to be the most successful, a working project but we have a lot of great players.”
BL: How did the season go?
Joseph: It was decent. It was like a rebuilding year, and we knew that going in. Our conference is really tough and last year there were 3 teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament which is crazy for Women’s Lacrosse, especially since we are in the Midwest conference and East Coast is where they say that lacrosse thrives, so that was definitely a big hurdle because we are in a tough conference. I think this year in our out of conference schedule we have a variety of teams that hopefully we can gain some confidence to bring into season. Last season was a rebuilding year, and our freshmen stepped up and showed growth.
BL: What’s your end goal for the season?
Joseph: We hope to win a couple of conference games and get back in our conference and hopefully next year we can start the tournament run. Our biggest goal is to be competitive in the conference.
BL: What did practice look like?
Joseph: We raised the level we have been competing at, the players I mentioned and then a few others starting with the sophomore class have a competitive edge to them, and they want to win so they push others in practice. You can tell we are now competing against each other which is going to translate to what happens on the field, last year it was slower, and we were getting the hang of it, so we are practicing faster, quicker smarter which is cool to see.
BL: Is what you have been working on in practice translating into what happens on the field?
Joseph: Yeah hopefully! The scrimmage was an eye-opener of what we need to work on, what we are doing great, and it showed us what we are ok on. We need to go back to the drawing board here and here. We are going to improve as the season goes on and we will hit our peak when the conference starts, which will be great for us when we get to the tough games.
BL: What’s your favorite part of the team?
Joseph: Their competitive spirit. I keep saying it, but that is the best part. They are all willing to work harder to get better, which is cool to see. We have a lot of different personalities on the team but at the end of the day they all recognize we are one team, we all get along, we are all going to work hard together, we will do all this together.
BL: Outside of The Steemer, what is your favorite building on campus?
Joseph: I like Hollenbeck a lot, I had a lot of classes there. I like the CDR a lot. I went there with the Men’s Volleyball coach (Nathan Matthews ‘19); the food is hundred times better than when I was here, so we love the buffet-style food. Coach Matthews and I bond over the fact we both went here around similar times, so we hang out a lot.
BL: If you were not a lacrosse coach, what would you be coaching instead?
Joseph: My favorite sport to watch is basketball, there are a lot of similarities between lacrosse and basketball, but I grew up playing soccer, but I would say basketball. An indoor sport sounds nice when it is cold outside so I would probably coach basketball, but I would be better at coaching soccer if we are being honest.
BL: What’s your favorite part about Springfield?
Joseph: I live in the downtown area so exploring down there. Charlo’s is a new restaurant, and the workers are amazing, I go to Winans a lot. I like exploring downtown, and they have been having a lot of events, so it is cool to see.
BL: What’s your favorite part of being a coach at your alma mater?
Joseph: Seeing a lot of the traditions that have stayed the same, and we have made a lot of improvements since we now have the HWA and Steemer. When I was here I was in a sorority and some of the girls are in that ,so they ask me what that was like, and I always find that funny, but I do like when they ask me. A lot of the professors were the same when I was here so they always ask about those classes. I would say the traditions make me feel like we are at home.
BL: What was your favorite Class while at Witt?
Joseph: I took this class with Coach J when she was here, and we had a good relationship. It was a coaching youth athletes’ class, and everyone picked a sport and taught the class to play so it was a night class, and I do not really remember it, but we had a good group in it.
BL: If you could give your players a piece of advice, what would it be?
Joseph: It goes by really quick for these 4 years, so enjoy it. We get 17 games through 4 years, and that’s it, so cherish every game and practice, you might dread coming to practice, but you would do anything to have another practice, cherish all 4 years.
Overall, I love being at Witt. It fits my personality, and as you know I am a loud vocal coach, and the girls respond well to that. I was looking for a group that hypes each other up and stays as a team. When I came to this program, we were in a rebuilding phase, and it is cool to see us make our goals. If you are reading this, come out to our games because a lot of people do not know what lacrosse is. The rules keep changing, so I barely know all the rules, but it is a lot of fun to watch, and it ends up being a high-scoring game, so there are a lot of goals. The season kicks off February 24th at home vs Muskingum, 12:00 start. We start with a lot of home games then we go away and then the conference starts. The girls are excited about playing Oberlin, but the big rivals in the conference are Denison and Kenyon, always the top 2. We must mentally prepare for those games.
Thank you, Coach Joseph, for taking the time to talk to the Torch!
