By Brendan Hickey
Daily Bruin contributor
[email protected]
The UCLA women’s lacrosse team has just finished a
record-setting season, a season in which it won the Western
Women’s Lacrosse League championship for the first time in
the team’s 12-year history. The Bruins clinched the
championship on May 5 with a 9-8 victory over top-ranked Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo.
“It feels good to be history setters for UCLA
lacrosse,” UCLA head coach Johanna Williams said.
However, that victory was made bittersweet, since Cal Poly had
already been selected as the league’s representative in the
national championship playoff. The selection was made in March,
before the end of the season and at a time when Cal Poly had one
fewer loss then UCLA.
Cal Poly went on to win the national playoff and, therefore, the
national championship. UCLA beat Cal Poly twice in three meetings
this year, including in the league championship. While UCLA never
got a chance to play for that national championship, it appears
that their chances of winning would have been very good.
“The girls are so deserving, I wanted it for them,”
Williams said
Still, according to Williams, it did not take away from winning
the league championship at all.
While the season ended in victory, it started off tough. UCLA
lost its first two games, both on the road, to UC Santa Barbara and
Cal Poly. Co-captain and national midfielder of the year Alison Lee
said that the team may have been overconfident.
“Santa Barbara, we expected to win,” she said.
Losing those games was tough, and in the end, it was what kept
them out of nationals. But according to Lee, those losses helped
the team to focus in later weeks.
That first weekend was a setback. But, according to senior
co-captain Jenn Davis, “We had more in us, practiced hard and
saw what we needed to do.”
The team chemistry clicked, and a week after opening the season
with two losses the Bruins bounced back and beat UC San Diego
17-2.
The team went on to win 11 out of its next 12 games, including a
big 7-4 victory over Cal Poly. The Bruins entered the playoffs
undefeated at home and held the league’s second-best
record.
The team continued to play well as the Bruins, led by Lee, Davis
and third senior co-captain Katie Marino, stormed through the
playoffs and vanquished Cal Poly a second time to claim the league
championship.
“It was a tough game,” Lee said. But we played with
a lot more heart, and that determined the game.”
Heart and dedication have been keys for the team all season. As
a club team, women’s lacrosse does not get any funding from
the school.
And, without the intramural field under construction, it could
barely get enough field time. Because the sport got low priority,
the team usually had to resort 6:30 a.m. practices. They got no
scholarship money and even had to pay for their own travel
expenses.
According to Williams the difficulties that come with being a
club team can be hard, but they brought the team closer together
and made their accomplishments even greater.
“It’s our team, we built it, we made it,”
Williams said. “It’s extremely rewarding.”
Now, even as memories of their championship remain fresh in
their minds, some thoughts turn to next season. The loss of
captains Lee, Davis, and Marino as players will be difficult to
cope with next year, even if Lee returns to coach as she is
considering it. The team is looking to freshmen Elsa Beyer and
Megan Kaley, who played very well down the stretch and especially
in the championship, to provide leadership and offense next
season.
They twice beat the national champion, and for the first time in
the team’s history won the Western Women’s Lacrosse
League championship. Any more accomplishments can wait for next
year.