Swarthmore women’s lacrosse is looking forward to another season with the hope of continuing to improve. They look to build off of their last season’s success, where they finished with a 10-6 record, which was the team’s best overall record since 2013. Although they graduated four seniors, they welcomed in seven first-years, including Helena Irvine ’22, and Ashley Pyon ’22, who both were able to score their first collegiate goal in the team’s season opener against Immaculata University. Swat was able to score a total of fifteen goals, winning their first game of the season 15-1. Along with the four freshmen that scored, Kathryn Restrepo ’19 scored four goals and had two assists, Sophie Peipher ’20 scored three out of the seven shots she took, and Tess Wild ’19 also scored a goal.
“I feel so happy we finally got to play together after weeks of practice. Everyone did a lot of nice things in the Immaculata game, and it was so fun to see how much we’ve improved since the fall,” said Wild.
As a spring sport, women’s lacrosse has been able to practice for the past 24 days and as Wild mentioned, they were excited to have the chance to show their skills in a game setting. Wild, who led the team last year in both assists and points, as well as winning six draw controls this Saturday, shared her team’s goals for the remainder of their season.
“We are working to combine our strengths to play to our potential. We have a lot of promise and hope to have another winning record,” said Wild.
With one win already under their belt, women’s lacrosse looks to continue their winning streak going into their game this Thursday against Arcadia. The team is under the leadership of three seniors, Wild, Restrepo, and Elizabeth Wainwright, who will look to continue to improve their team’s record overall and within the conference.
Their first home game is not until March 16 against Eastern University, but they have plenty of time to prepare with their spring break trip to Clearwater, Florida. During this trip, they will play two games and spend their remaining time practicing, improving their skills and bonding as a team before conference play starts. The Centennial Conference released a preseason women’s lacrosse poll that put Swarthmore women’s lacrosse seventh in conference standings, but after a successful season opener, they are now ranked fifth in the current standings. This improvement shows that Swarthmore women’s lacrosse has the potential to not just have an overall winning season but a winning conference season, which could lead to the team’s first ever Centennial Conference Championship.
