As I mentioned once before, we don’t have great attendance at practices on Mondays and Tuesdays, due to clinicals, classes, etc.. Despite that, I thought we had a couple of good days in preparation for our upcoming game in Philadelphia against the Rams of Thomas Jefferson University.

As we left campus and headed to Philly for the second time in a week, I thought we were ready to play our best game of the season. Once again, our bus trip ended up taking us longer than anticipated and we arrived with less time to warm up than we would like. The weather was beautiful. Their campus is pretty and the field overlooks the “City of Brotherly Love”, a very nice setting for a lacrosse game.

Despite the long trip and lack of proper warm up, the Lady Lions began the game fast and furious, scoring twice in the less than a minute. But, as they would do all day, Jefferson fought back in what became a game of three and four goal runs. The Rams led 6 -5 late in the first quarter, their only lead of the game. We came back and regained control of the game, but were never able to put them away. We led by four goals, several times, including 19 – 15, with five minutes left to play. Jefferson battled to the end, and though we won by three, it wasn’t until the final couple of minutes that the game was actually out of reach.

Some thoughts on yesterday’s game. I love how we stayed in control of the game, despite not being able to put it out of reach. As much as Jefferson showed its resilience, the Lions displayed plenty of our own. I thought we had some terrific individual efforts in key moments, throughout the game, which helped us overcome another game where we made too many mistakes. Once again, our game plan worked, as far as neutralizing the other team’s top scorer (on goal, yesterday). But as a Defensive Coach, 16 Goals is tough to take!

We are now more than half way through the regular season schedule. We have made some really good progress but there is still work to be done. As we have been improving and the weather has gotten nicer, I sense a different feeling at practices. Certainly, it can still be a grind. But it seems, the team is more together. I hope they know how fortunate they are, to “get to play lacrosse”, something you love. And you get to do it with your teammates, some of whom, are probably among your closest friends. When it seems like a grind, embrace it, because it is fleeting. Four years passes quicker than you can imagine. I am hoping we will all, cherish the moments in this journey, and make some great memories along the way.

The Best is yet to come! Go Lions!