The UIndy women’s lacrosse team has begun its season after making it to regionals last season.
While quite a few of last season’s players have graduated, junior midfielder Sage Da Silva does not think this will hurt the team. The team lost five starters according to Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach Peyton Romig.
“We might be seeing more of a young team this year, … but I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Da Silva said. “We’re still a small team, but we’re close knit.”
The team ended last season ranked No.13 nationally, and going into this season it is ranked No.16 according to USA Lacrosse polls. In order to continue to advance this season, Romig believes the team should continue to have a strong work ethic and keep their goals in focus.
“Our goals are always to make the conference tournament [and] always make the NCAA tournament,” Romig said. “We challenge ourselves with the games we play during season to reflect how the NCAA will be and who we might play then. Everything we do is essentially preparing us for the NCAA tournament and getting us there.”
According to Da Silva, the team has trained intensely with practices six days a week. Da Silva said practices typically start with more technical skills, such as stick work, and then transition to skills that are more situational to games.
“We’ve just been trying to be very intense and intentional with our training,” Da Silva said.
Since the team is no longer in preseason, they have begun to consider their opponents and their offensive and defensive strategies, according to Romig. However, she first and foremost wants the team to focus on improving themselves.
“We don’t really need to change who we are against who we play,” Romig said. “There’s little adjustments you make, but as a whole, our team just playing how we play will usually help us get the job done. If it doesn’t, then we find out what didn’t work, and we can make adjustments from there.”
Da Silva plans to use each game as a chance to grow both as an individual and as a team. She said there is something to learn from every game.
“I plan to improve by taking each game as a way to learn from it,” Da Silva said. “I think we can do that as a team as well.”
The team plays its next game on Feb. 28 against Alabama Huntsville at 5 p.m. at home.
