With a full week of practice, in the books, the 2025/26 Lady Lions took the field last night, against some familiar faces – The Alumni! With a number of last season’s Seniors returning to Darcy Field for this event, the Coaches and returning players (from last year’s team), knew that this would be a formidable challenge for the Current Team! With that in mind, our preparation last week was more focused and intense.
When I arrived at the field, yesterday, a large tailgate party, was already underway (sorry, I should have taken a photo)! Unlike last year, when it was a miserable evening, the weather was very nice. As the Alumni trickled onto the field, my heart felt good, seeing them back on the field. It was great to catch up with them, and to hear that things are going well, in their now adult, lives!
The time for re-unioning was brief, since we still had to go through our pre-game warm up. Our team seemed nervous, warming up, and when I glanced over The Alumni, they were few in numbers, but were organized in their own warm up. In fact, most of them looked very much like they did at the end of last season.
In addition, to this being a great day for the Molloy Women’s Lacrosse Program, this would prove to be a valuable experience for our team, since there are a number of big Rules Changes that are definitely going to impact the way our game is played , this season. This would be our first time playing under these New Rules.
An impressive crowd of Lions faithful, eventually put the tailgate party on hold (at least temporarily), and nicely filled out the stands, as the game began. That crowd, would be boisterous, at times and they were treated to a spirited and fairly well played game! I was impressed with how organized the oldtimers were and how intelligently they played, throughout. I took some pride in how well they played. Overall, I was pleased with how our team played. Of course, we were sloppy at times, and did not execute as well as we would like, and we certainly have a long way to go. But we played with effort, energy and enthusiasm (The Three E’s). I am not sure what the final score was, but am pretty sure the Alumni won by a couple of goals. When all things are considered, I think this was a good exercise for our squad and something we will benefit from, going forward. Oh yeah, it was a lot of fun, too!
I could not stay at the post game tailgate party, very long. Just long enough to sample some of the delicious food (as always an expression of the Parents’ love for their children and the team, what a spread, they put out!), catch up with some of the Alums and the Alumni Parents, as well as meet some of the Parents of our Freshmen. As I walked away from the party, I was really impressed by the number of people in attendance. Lions Nation is gaining strength!
Go Lions!
A New Season 