As winter sports are drawing to a close, athletes in spring sports are preparing for their seasons. Elizabethtown College’s tennis teams are preparing for their first match in roughly one week, and baseball fans only need to wait until spring break for their team to take the field.
However, the lacrosse teams head out before the weather even warms up. After the women’s match against the Gwynedd Mercy University women’s lacrosse team on Feb. 13, both teams dove headfirst into several games across the semester and generated interest in a brand-new season of lacrosse. Before the teams get too far into the season, let’s look at what that season might look like for the Jays.
The Blue Jays are heading into this season with some noteworthy credibility thanks to their performances last year. The Etown men’s lacrosse team finished the 2024 season with a strong record of 11-7. While that season started rough with three consecutive losses, they turned their luck around with a win against St. Mary’s college. The team also nearly made it through April without a loss, achieving a seven-win-long streak. However, they ultimately lost the Landmark Conference championship to the Scranton University Royals.
While the men’s team has become one of the de facto teams to beat this season, the women’s lacrosse team had a rougher season last year. While they started better off than the men’s team with a close win against Albright University, they only achieved six wins throughout the season. This placed them eighth among the other Landmark Conference teams with a record of 6-10.
Despite this, the passion from both teams has not let up. If last year’s team can make it to the championships, there is every reason to believe the current team can make it back there. For the women’s team, there’s nowhere to go but up this season.
“We’re super excited for this season to begin. We’ve got a group of guys with a good mixture of experience,” senior defender Bobby Baird said.
The lacrosse teams are also getting ready for matches against their fiercer opponents. When asked if he felt there were any teams the Blue Jays wanted to beat this season, Baird and senior midfielder Alex Ly reflected on their team’s loss against Scranton University last year in the championship game While they beat Scranton by a score of 14-5 around April last year, Scranton returned the favor in the aforementioned championship loss. Ly stated that he hopes the Blue Jays can return to that deceive match and grab ahold of the victory that eluded them last year.
“I’ve said it a million times, I think this is the best team I’ve seen,” Baird said. “Our numbers are great, we’re running great, conditioning is good. Everything’s looking good going into the season.”
You can see the men’s lacrosse team compete against Washington College this Saturday, February 22nd, at 1 p.m., in Chestertown, Maryland. The women’s lacrosse team will be playing the same day against Albright in Reading, Pennsylvania. at noon.
