By Rose Bialk
WOMEN’S LACROSSE just finished their second-ever fall season as a team at Lewis & Clark. Since the summer of 2022, when they began recruiting, they have had great success in building team culture and in achieving athletic goals. In preparation for the Northwest Conference spring season, which starts in February, the team trained throughout this fall and competed in two scrimmages, which demonstrates their hard work and commitment to lacrosse year-round.
Head Coach Lindsay Newman was hired in 2023 to start the women’s lacrosse program with recruitment, and the team played their first season last fall. Newman has plenty of experience coaching collegiate lacrosse — she served as the head coach at Linfield University for four years and coached at Asbury University and Whitman College when each school started up their lacrosse programs, which made her well-equipped to launch LC’s women’s lacrosse program.
Even with her experience and expertise, she noted the challenges of establishing the new sport last year. At first, all the team members were new to the school, so players had very few student mentors to look up to. This year, on the other hand, some students already have a season of college lacrosse under their belt, allowing them serve as a resource for new players, create a welcoming team environment for incoming students and set the team culture.
“This year, now that we’ve done a year together, they have a better understanding of what our standards and expectations are,” Newman said. “What we follow through on, what we don’t tolerate and being able to set that example for the freshmen has been huge.”
Even though the newness of the sport poses unique challenges, it also provides players with a fresh and eager outlook. Newman explained that because most players are new to the world of collegiate athletics, they are very enthusiastic and eager about lacrosse. Team Captain Finley Allen ’27 appreciates her teammates’ excitement, too.
“They’re all really committed, they’re all really driven, and they all lead themselves before I really have to lead them,” Allen said.
Part of that drive also comes from Newman, who tries to challenge players on and off the field. She emphasized her role of supporting players in terms of academics and everyday life to make sure they can keep up with the demands of being a student-athlete. She focuses on helping players reach their full potential in the classroom and on the field.
“My coaching philosophy is to meet the players where they are, treat them as what they would be, so they become what they should be,” Newman said.
Newman also takes on-the-field training seriously, as seen by her determined enthusiasm at early morning practices. She thinks that after each practice, the team should be left feeling satisfied with their work. This attitude is reflected by players, too, as Allen shared. She feels that compared to last year, the team has more skills and confidence.
“I think that now we definitely hold ourselves to a higher standard, just like our endurance, our stick skills and our field IQ. It’s just definitely a different standard than we started with, and I think that just comes with our coach kind of whooping us into shape and also us holding ourselves to a higher standard,” Allen said.
Not only is the lacrosse team capable athletically, but they also have an excellent team culture with closeness between players. Midfielder Mack Searle ’28 has appreciated this dynamic as a newcomer to collegiate athletics and finds that the team chemistry strengthens their performance on the field.
“I’ve always wanted to be on a team that’s really connected and always doing things together,” Searle said.
Excellent teamwork was one of the goals Newman set forth in the team’s recent scrimmages on Nov. 1. They certainly achieved this when they played against two schools that day. They lost to Linfield University 14-8 but won the second game against Eastern Oregon University, 14-3, showing improvement from last season. Searle shared that it was exciting to play and win together as a team.
“It was good to be able to see how the team all worked together and I really enjoyed it,” Searle said.
The scrimmage marked the end of their fall season, meaning players will get a break until January, when the competition-heavy spring season starts. The team is eager for the future and hopeful for more wins. Newman is especially excited about how the team will play together and is confident in its future success.
“To see them work together and really just watch them find success on the field on game days is what I’m looking forward to. I really think that here in the next two to three years, we will be competing in the conference championship, and so I’m just excited for them to see the hard work pay off,” Newman said.
Allen also highlighted the importance of team cooperation, showcasing the overall attitude she hopes players will continue to have in the future so the team can be successful during the season.
“I think that is something that’s really important — everyone can play a great game for themselves, but that doesn’t matter unless we’re able to put it together as a team,” Allen said.
This excellent fall season points to a bright future for women’s lacrosse at LC.
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