Women’s lacrosse crushes division, looks ahead

A difference of one goal was the margin of defeat for the MSU Women’s Lacrosse team at last year’s regional tournament. This year they are determined to be an indomitable force coming out of their division. 

Founded in 2014, the team is one of eight schools that fields a team in the Northwest Women’s Lacrosse League’s (NWLL) Second Division. After the disappointing loss at last year’s regionals, the team is ready and poised to take another crack at it. 

Club President Grace French has been playing lacrosse since the second grade. The sport has always meant a good deal to her, so it simply made sense to continue playing for the Bobcats when she got to school.

“When I decided to come here, I knew I wanted to play with the club team. I reached out to the president at the time, and it was during the 2020 COVID-19 situation. It was a team of eight people. When the president graduated, she just appointed me as [the new] president. I was happy to do it my sophomore year,” she said. 

The club French has built is a step up from the team of eight that existed when she joined three years ago. The club now fields a roster of twenty-seven.

“I was really big on growing the club. It’s hard when we have no subs and can’t field a team and can’t play good games. I wanted to make sure we could field a team. What we have now is amazing,” French said.

This year’s team has been quite successful, having achieved a current record of 8-1. This mark includes a perfect 8-0 against teams within MSU’s NWLL division. 

Last year’s regionals tournament saw MSU as a four seed, but this year’s solid play will mean that they will enter the fray as the number one seed. A thirteen-hour bus ride to Portland awaits them, but the team is ready to go and excited to compete. 

“Our goal right now is to win regionals, and keep moving up from there. We want to play against better competition from better schools and different leagues,” French said. 

French said that winning regionals would be instrumental in continuing to build the program’s reputation. While nationals is out of the cards this year due to travel and scheduling issues, it isn’t that hard to see MSU competing for a national title down the road.