Women’s club lacrosse debuts in spring season

The Georgia College women’s club lacrosse team, the first of its kind here, debuts this spring. 

The team, coached by Tim McNalley, one of players stepfathers, was founded last semester and is the first club of its kind at GC.

“Last semester we played two games at Kennesaw State. We played Shorter and Reinhardt University, we lost both but for only being a team for a few weeks we did really well,” junior marketing major and captain Sarah Jeffery said.

Team captains Jeffery and Jen Hoffman started the club with the help of McNalley last fall.  When the word got out that a club lacrosse team was starting at GC, it did not take long for many students to show an interest.

“I knew Jen and Sarah from Milton High School because I went to Northview and we were ‘rivals,’” sophomore community health major Leah Eller said. “I heard they were getting a team together and so I jumped right on it and gathered some of my high school teammates to play, too.”

The team had their first meeting of the semester on Wednesday Jan. 11 to plan practices, and they plan to practice one or two times a week. Additionally, several matches have been planned for this semester.

“We are playing Georgia Southern, Coastal Carolina, Furman, Emory, Vanderbilt and Anna Maria College from Massachusetts will be coming down to play us. We are also members of SWLL, Southeastern Women’s Lacrosse League, which consists of club teams all over the Southeast,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman and Jeffery are excited about the way the team is coming together.

“I feel like we have a great group of girls so far. We had fun this Fall but we definitely have a lot of room to grow,” Hoffman said. “Our first game in the Fall which was at Kennesaw, we lost, but I think the entire team enjoyed playing lacrosse again. Most of us haven’t been able to play since high school. I hope we can get enough girls to join the team this spring. We are always looking for more girls to join and get involved.”

Both girls have goals they would like to see the team achieve this semester, but acknowledge that many challenges also lay ahead.

“I hope we can pull out a few wins and really just have a good time,” Hoffman said. “A first year team can’t expect to win them all. It’s more about coming together as a team, playing the game and doing our best.”

Acknowledging the challenges the team will face, Jeffery explained, “I believe we will do decent but being a new team and playing in SWLL it will be a challenge for us.”

Despite the challenges the team may face, many of the girls are just excited to have the opportunity to play the game they love again.

“I like the intensity of it, even though it’s ‘girls’ lacrosse, so it’s not as physical as guys. But it really does take a ton of skill and it’s a very pretty sport to watch. Women’s lacrosse is all about the ‘finesse’ I mean we’re girls, we have to make it look good too,” Eller said.

Eller encourages anyone and everyone that may be interested to give lacrosse and shot- experience not required.

“We are always looking for girls to play, experience or no experience,” Eller said. “It’s one of the best sports to learn how to play because it is so physically and mentally demanding. And once you get the hang of it, there’s no better feeling.”

If interested in becoming a part of the GC club lacrosse team email jennifer.hoffman@bobcats.gcsu.edu or sign up on OrgSync. The team also has a Facebook page, Georgia College Lacrosse.

Posted by Brennan Meagher on Jan 19 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.