Women's lacrosse wins GNAC

The Norwich women's lacrosse team is headed to the NCAA tournament after winning its conference.

"We played each of our conference teams and made it to the conference tournament," said Beth Van Parys, head coach for the Cadets. "There was a three-way tie for first in the conference and also for fourth."

"They had to pull a name out of a hat for both places," Van Parys said. "We ended up with the third seed, Emerson with first and St. Joe's Maine with second and Mount Ida with fourth."

The Cadets traveled to Standish, Maine, to play St. Joe's College in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) semifinal game on April 21. The Cadets lost to St. Joe's earlier in the season in quadruple overtime.

"We beat St. Joe's, advancing to the GNAC final game on Saturday," Van Parys said.
"We were really pumped before the (St. Joe's) game, and we knew we were going to win," said Lori Baldassra, a 19-year-old sophomore business major from Manchester, N.H. "We were just having a great game out there and took it to them."

The Cadets prepared to face Emerson College in the finals on the following Saturday, according to players.

"Emerson is probably one of the biggest teams in the conference. Since day one that I've been here, they're the team we've wanted to beat," Van Parys said. "We always get excited for it; every player from our starters all the way to our team managers to everybody in the office."   

To prepare for the Emerson game, the team watched film and practiced to be ready for Emerson's style of play.

"Their best player doesn't pass the ball," said Meghan Kennedy, a 20-year-old political science major from Lowell, Mass. "She didn't pass the ball to wide open players and our defense forced her out so she couldn't shoot."   

"Our communication also helped us win the game. We were always talking," Kennedy said. "We beat them earlier in the season and we wanted to show them that we are really a better team than them."

The Cadets traveled to Boston on April 24 to face off against Emerson.

"I think we won because we had the heart, the drive and we wanted it bad," said Kellie Pickel, a 21-year-old junior nursing major from Montpelier, Vt. Pickel plays in net for the Cadets.

"It was a nice day out and everyone was feeling good. Everyone was playing their A-game," Kennedy said. "We were on fire."

"I couldn't even think I was so excited as the minutes were counting down," Pickel said.

"Every time we got another goal, I was just thinking, ‘This is it. We won. There's no way they can come back'," Kennedy said. "With five minutes left, we were up by a lot and they just kept dropping balls. We dominated."

"We ended up winning 13-6," Van Parys said. "Everybody (was) really excited to play Emerson so it definitely feels good to beat them."

"It was great to see our team play together and use everything we've learned throughout the season," Kennedy said. "It kind of came together into one game."

Coach Van Parys was given a Gatorade shower as the clock hit zero.
"It was pretty cold I heard," Kennedy said.

The team is now preparing for the NCAA tournament, which begins May 12, according to Van Parys.

"We have a couple games in the mean time," said Van Parys. The Cadets are scheduled to play Worcester State and Plymouth State.

"Both teams are great to have on the schedule and to have before the NCAA tournament to get ready for that," Van Parys said. "Hopefully we'll get both those games in and then we'll have some practices and take a couple days off in there to get some rest and get studying for finals."

"It's huge," Van Parys said, "it's the first NCAA bid not only for Norwich women's lacrosse, but for our conference. It's really exciting to be remembered as the first team from the GNAC who got first NCAA bid."

"It's a huge accomplishment to say that we've been there," Baldassara said. "We want to work our way up, and we'll get more recognition."

"We're only a third-year program," Kennedy said. "For our program to be young and make it to NCAAs is really exciting."

"I'm excited to see who we're going to play," Pickel said. "There's going to be some good teams."

"Everyone's just working hard and being positive," Kennedy said. "I'm super excited and I want to make it to the second round."

"It's definitely a historic game and an opportunity for our team," Van Parys said.