UMW women’s lacrosse takes tough loss against Messiah University

by JADON BURGESS

Staff Writer

On March 28, UMW women’s lacrosse had their second home game of the week, after defeating Roanoke College 11-9 on March 25, the Eagles lost to Messiah University by a score of 14-10. 

The Eagles took on a ranked opponent, #17 Messiah University, who got out to an early start, scoring three goals in the first quarter. The Eagles battled back in the second quarter by scoring seven goals and gained the lead going into halftime 7-6.

Senior defender and marketing major Sophie Hubbard spoke about the team’s mindset being focused on steady improvement, even in tough moments. 

“We like to focus on one game at a time,” Hubbard said. “It’s about building on progress we’ve made and doing whatever we can to do better.”

When it comes to playing ranked opponents, the Eagles are 1-3 on the year, but that doesn’t stop the excitement each time. 

“Playing a ranked opponent is always a lot of fun,” junior biomedical sciences major Maddie Stauder said. “The stakes are higher and it’s a great opportunity to showcase how good we are as a team and how well we can play under pressure.” 

Hubbard added that ranked opponents also allow them to showcase their skills.

“I love playing against ranked opponents. It gives us a test about how much we can push ourselves and opportunities to show our talent,” she said. 

Coming off a home win earlier in the week, there was a certain attitude in preparation for this game. 

Stauder said the team entered the game confident after a strong week of preparation.

“Practice before Messiah was good. We were all focused, and after coming off a win against Roanoke, we were playing with a lot of confidence,” Stauder said. “We were in a good position to win, but we need to play more consistently through all 60 minutes.”

Senior attacker and communication and digital studies major Kimber Konen also added that having a good scout and game plan helped them feel prepared going into the game.

“We had a scout and made a game plan on what we think would work well against Messiah and practice really focused on getting those pieces down so we were prepared to play against an overall good team,” she said. 

UMW showed balance across the field. Six different players recorded points, the defense forced 18 Messiah turnovers and goalkeeper Cece Van Blenis tallied nine saves to keep the Eagles within reach.

This balance is a key to the Eagles’ success as Stauder emphasized 

“Our key focus was just to play our game how we’ve been practicing and performing all season,” she said. “Lots of communication on defense and attack and playing together as a team instead of individuals.”

Konen shared how, when working together, they can perform more than they would individually. 

“I like to look at us all as puzzle pieces and when we work together, we make the big picture,” she said, “Everyone relies on each other, whether it’s on offense or defense, and when we’re all on the same page, that’s when we really perform at our best,”

Ultimately, the third quarter was the turning point of the game as the Eagles failed to net any goals. This cold spell was costly as Messiah capitalized, taking the lead back with five goals of their own. Ultimately, the Eagles showed hard-fought resilience after a scoreless third quarter by clawing back to make it a 14-10 loss at the Battleground. 

The Eagles now sit at 5–5 on the season, with more than half the schedule still ahead. Their ability to respond to adversity, generate scoring depth and compete with ranked opponents continues to be a promising sign as conference play approaches.

“Today definitely hurt, but we have to move forward,” Hubbard said. “Mistakes were made, but it’s about learning from our performance and building off of it.” 

Hubbard mentioned how they still have a lot of time in the season to improve. 

“I know we can do awesome things and am excited we still have a lot of season left to work hard,” she said. “Losing is definitely not a good feeling. Today hurt but we have to move forward.” 

UMW returns to action on April 4, against Salisbury, looking to bounce back and build on the progress shown throughout the week.