Photo by Sam Penizotto
Photo by Sam Penizotto

The newest team sport to enter Florida Southern College, women’s lacrosse, is already off to a great start with a 7-1 record. The team is ranked #13 in the nation and is an independent team.

Women’s lacrosse at FSC began their first season this past February. Head Coach Kara Reber began working at FSC in November of 2010, and recruited players during spring of last year. To prep the girls for a season, spring training sessions were held as well.

“My main focus was to bring student-athletes to campus in order to fill our squad,” Reber said. “I wanted to bring in enough talent that we would not have to have anyone on the team that has never played before.”

Bridgette Long, sophomore defender, is one of the twenty-six players on the team. She has been playing lacrosse since the third grade, and wanted to play when she heard a team was going to be formed at FSC.

“Our team has worked very hard together,” Long said. “We are a very tight-knit team that works really well together.”

Current FSC students and prospective students trained and conditioned in the spring of 2011. This was so that Reber could get a feel for how many were interested in joining the team, and to show the coach their skills.

“I think the team is doing great so far,” Reber said. “The fact that we have upset one nationally ranked team, and were able to keep it close with the #4 team in the nation [Lock Haven] shows how competitive this group of student-athletes are.”

Megan Asper, freshman midfielder, says the women hope to make it to the NCAA tournament at the end of the season.

“It’s an amazing feeling to know that FSC women’s lacrosse has already been more successful than some of us imagined,” Asper said. “Everyone has worked so hard to prepare for this season, and it is really paying off.”

“We have a great record now, but that can change if we stop working as hard as we can to be the best team that we can be. I’m so proud of our success,” Long said.

The women’s lacrosse team will play a total of 16 regular season games. The next game will be tomorrow, March 24.

“We hope to continue on this successful path,” Reber said. “I think we have started out a great tradition of women’s lacrosse at Florida Southern, and our goal is to improve every year from here on out.”

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