Club sport spotlight: Women’s Lacrosse Club travels throughout the Northwest

Lewis & Clark students show their dedication at practices and at tournaments

By Abe Field /// Senior Staff Writer

The Lewis & Clark Women’s Lacrosse program has been around for around 20 years now. This year’s group of girls, lead by seniors Rachelle Hanson ’16 and Claire Manny ’16, have built the foundation for a great program for years to come.

The Women’s Lacrosse club is like most other club sports programs that practice on campus. Since it is incredibly difficult to find part time coaches for specialized sports like this one, the Lacrosse club is coached by its captains, Hanson and Manny. The pair lead practices twice a week and coordinate travel to tournaments all over the Pacific Northwest.

This season, the club has lost a few of its members to study abroad programs, but they still enthusiastically travel to tournaments throughout the year. They play in tournaments all the way from Seattle to Corvallis. “We usually have between 10-17 girls on the team,” Hanson said. “We try to do most of our recruiting and looking for new members at the Pio Fair in the fall,” Manny said.

Both Manny and Hanson have been playing Lacrosse since they were young. “Most girls on our team played in high school, but we have a few who have played other sports and get the hang of it really fast,” Manny said. One of the best thing about being on the team is the friendships that the team makes with each other. Manny and Hanson met through the team in their freshman year and have been great friends ever since. “I guess we formed a great connection on the field that lasted off the field as well,” Manny said with a smile.

The team travels in the Fall and the spring to tournaments against other club lacrosse programs, but many of the schools they face are not Division III schools. There is no conference for just Division III schools in Women’s Lacrosse, so the team plays in the Division II category. “We are in a rebuilding phase right now, but we still get players from other teams who have played against us for years coming up to us and congratulating us on our season,” Hanson said. Clearly, not only is the team competitive, but they are respected.

Although Hanson and Manny are both graduating, they have picked two new captains to start the season off next year. Sydney Steel ’19 and Jessica Wallace ’17 will be co-captains. The team practices Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Griswold Stadium and welcome any newcomers who want to try the sport.