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“It was the first game of the season, and it was the first game we’ve ever played at Hamline. We had a ton of people there, and we were just super excited,” said Lasheena Petznick, who is in her first season. “[Our biggest challenge was] to stay calm and play our game.”

Petznick plays primarily D-wing (a defensive position in the midfield) and third man (a defensive post). Petznick has played nearly every minute this year. She and the rest of the Hamline defense were, for the most part, very effective in stopping Eau Claire in their opening bout. The women marked well, and as a result, were able to stop their opponents from scoring breakaway goals. Such runs at the net are considered some of the toughest to defend because womens lacrosse is not a contact sport. In order to stop a break-away, a team must be as quick to the ball as they are careful when stripping it.

It became apparent that Eau Claire wouldn’t be able to muscle the Piper defense around, so attempts at fast breaks were fewer in the second half. Instead, Eau Claire began moving the ball behind the net, then attempting crosses to strikers. These quick passes helped Eau Claire put Hamline goalkeeper Erika Twedt off balance, allowing them to score three unanswered goals. The last goal of this series tied the match with less than ten minutes left.

“When [an opponent] go[es] behind the net, you have a ton of people just waiting for that one person to make a move, so [the field] becomes extremely chaotic,” Petznick said.

Eau Claire had capitalized on that chaos three times within eight minutes, and was attempting to make it four when Hamline defenders began double-teaming key forwards for the Blue Golds. Eau Claire attempted the same play once more, circling behind the net and then making a high pass to the front. This time Hamline jumped to the receiving striker, forcing a shot that was neither powerful nor accurate; it was an easy save for Twedt, the top ranked goalkeeper in the Northern Conference according to the UMWLL’s official website. Hamline is now ranked third in the conference, just one slot above neighboring rival Bethel.

If Hamline’s defense was on, their offense was on fire. The team’s offense netted 11 goals against Eau Claire, a team that was expected to be ranked two slots higher than the Pipers in a preseason poll.

Attacker Katie George was able to put six goals past Eau Claire keeper Micaela Bourgeois. Even with an outstanding first outing from George, the offensive spectacle was by no means a one-woman show. Midfielders Shauna Sullivan and Kayla Kaiser each had goals along with attacker Ashley Fike.
“We were good at transitioning the ball down the field,” said Joyce Pflaumer, who plays second home (another offensive position) for the Pipers.

In womens lacrosse, transition is the name of the game. Quick transitions from the midfield and past the eight-meter line is what allows teams to set up shots and make good passes at goal. If a team can’t transition the ball to their forwards, they can’t get shots that will put goalkeepers off balance, and are then further limited by confident defenders.

Hamline didn’t have such a problem. Ball movement was surprisingly crisp for the team’s season opener. When Eau Claire was able to stop Hamline’s quick offensive sweeps, the Pipers seemed equal to the challenge, often stealing the ball back in the midfield and making the quick jump back to offense.

“I think that we played the best that we have ever played before. We played well off the ball as well as on the ball,” said Sullivan, who has been with the team since its inception. “It was great to see the girls turn around after all we’ve done, and play the game like it should be played.”

Sullivan’s appreciation was echoed by the Hamline fans. Over 50 supporters braved the cold conditions to watch history as it unfolded in the Pipers’ first-ever home match. Though many of these fans had never seen a lacrosse match in person, let alone a womens lacrosse match, based much more on strategy than on the bone-crunching hits that the mens game is known for, the group stayed rabid until the very end.

If Klas Field had a roof, it would have surely been blown off.
“The crowd helped so much. We really felt like we were real. We’ve been trying to have a program for three years now, and suddenly we were on a real field, with real uniforms and real fans,” said Petznick. “It was so exciting to have people out there that really cared about what we were doing, even though a lot of them didn’t really understand the sport.”
Petznick admitted to being a little taken aback the first time she heard the infamous Piper clap after a goal.

“I think [the home win] built our self-confidence. It helped us mesh a lot. We were not as confident when we went in as when we came off the field,” Sullivan said.

That confidence followed Hamline onto the field for their second match, last Monday. The Pipers were up against the top ranked St. Ben’s Blazers, a team that had already played seven games to Hamline’s one. While Hamline did put up a fight, they were squarely defeated 14-5.

The Pipers still looked crisp on the field, but St. Ben’s was able to capitalize where Eau Claire had failed. The Blazers moved the ball quickly downfield, making use of the transition game that had helped Hamline so much in their last game, opening up fast breaks and even a few uncontested shots on goal.

“We started double-teaming their main scorers, but it was a rough game,” Petznick said. The Blazers were extremely quick, deadly accurate, and physical to match.

As the game went on, it became evident that Hamline was getting tired, while St. Ben’s still appeared to be fresh.

The Blazers are one of the oldest teams in the conference and has 32 members, which means they have a full three teams worth of subs; Hamline has only two members waiting on the bench. Since womens lacrosse in the UMWLL has no restrictions on how many substitutions a team can make, St. Ben’s was able to keep up more energy than Hamline. They executed well and had great control of the ball, but they simply never got tired.

“Their plays really got us. It wasn’t on either end of the field, but we lost a lot in the midfield,” said Pflaumer. “They used the midfield to control the game.”

Still, the match was a learning experience for the team.
“I think we realized what our competition is like. We need to step it up a little bit, but we got a good taste of what these teams will be like,” said Sullivan. “[Now] we’re better prepared for the better teams we’ll come up against.”