We only had one day to practice in preparation for the University of New Haven Chargers on Saturday. I thought it went pretty well, considering the residual effects of the game at Mercy, two days prior. At least we had nice weather, which always seems to lift our spirits.

We experienced a decent amount of traffic, on our van ride up to New Haven, Saturday morning. We arrived with a bit less time to warm up, than we would have liked. But I liked our collective demeanor during warmups, and I felt like we were pretty ready to go, by game time.

From the beginning, this game was tightly contested. The lead would change hands four times, and neither team would lead by more than three goals, throughout a contest that saw the score tied four separate times. The first half was one of our best this season, and the Lions led 6-4, at the intermission. We scored early in the third quarter for our largest lead of the day, 7-4. But the Chargers responded with the next five goals and led 9-7 at the end of the third quarter. After the Lady Lions closed to within one, at 9-8, UNH scored two in a row for an 11-8 lead with nine minutes remaining in the game. Molloy battled back to 11-9, with a little more than three minutes left. But that would be the final score, despite our best late game efforts.

Though, we were unable to hold the lead and gave up another big third quarter run by our opponent. This game felt different. We played a lot of very good lacrosse against a quality team. I was proud of the grit and determination the Lady Lions played with, throughout, this one. The fact that we never trailed by more than three, made it always feel attainable. I feel like we got better out there on Saturday, and should we should be stronger for it, in the long run.

I am sure you are wondering how the ride home went? The traffic was TERRIBLE! I saw no accidents and no active roadwork, to explain the ridiculous delays. Just some intermittent rain on a Saturday afternoon, on I-95! It took us Four Hours to get back to Molloy!

On a different note, I have to say how proud I was of Ivanna Hernandez, who plays for New Haven. I coached Ivanna at FLG. It is always great to see players I have coached in the past, especially when they are thriving. Even if they are thriving to the point of helping to defeat your team – she had two goals and an assist!

So it is back to the grind. We only have three regular season games remaining and then the ECC Playoffs. It has not been the kind of season we had hoped for, but there is still a road ahead for us to reach our goals. I know we can continue to improve and get there.

Let’s Go Lions!

The weather made yesterday, a great day to be outside and hopefully, decompress from Lacrosse and I-95 Traffic! Debi and I, took a long walk in Eisenhower Park. It was just what I needed.