On Sunday, Feb. 18, the Lindenwood women’s lacrosse team took on the Louisville Cardinals and defeated them by a score of 12-9.
While still being super early in the season, and the game being as close as it was, it is still believed that that game was the best one that the Lions have played starting off the season.
“We had a good environment here, a lot of fans in the crowd, excitement to compete, and just belief among the team. They came in and executed the game plan, especially early on, us being able to get a nice solid lead,” assistant coach Brian Smith said. “Obviously [us getting] the win, anytime we can get that, we’ll take it. I think also defensively they had a great game, so I think overall just a nice team victory.”
According to Smith, the Cardinals being ACC opponents, a fierce division, that was a major reason the game was significantly more intense than the prior games. All the same, the major victory was a huge reason the Lions were as proud as they were of their win, and are excited about the promise it’s shown proceeding forward this season.
“I think the strengths of our team is just status. Just them believing in each other, believing in themselves, and coming out and then just executing their game plan,” Smith said. “So if we prepare, and stick to the game plan, do what we’re supposed to do, which we have been, we can have success on every phase of the game. Offense, defense, and special teams with our draw.”
Last year was a lot of adapting for the Lions, them being new to Division I, just like all of Lindenwood’s other teams. There were many games where the Lions were down early and had to fight back, not knowing what to expect going into it. Now having that year under the belt, the team has learned what to expect entering every game. Just the preparation needed in Division I versus Division II. With all that, the Lions are prodigiously confident in the accomplishments this season will award them.
“I think this is probably the best we played all season. We still have growth to give, but we played as a team, we played cohesively, the defense was locked in, the offense was locked in, we were getting it done on both sides of the field, and yeah it just felt really great having played today,” goalkeeper Haylie Sims said. “So far strengths have just been coming to each game ready to play, competing on each end of the ball, and we’ll see lots of growth and strength as the season goes on.”
