ANDERSON, S.C.- The Anderson University women's lacrosse team is gearing up for its inaugural season, with the Trojans set to face off against Southern Wesleyan on Saturday February 11.
The first-year program is made up of 23 freshman and three sophomores who are eager to represent the Black and Gold as the university's first women's lacrosse team.
"We played a couple conference teams in the fall so that gave us some perspective, but we're a totally different team each day we get on the field as we grow and we have some really good pieces and some leaders who are really emerging on the field," said head coach Gail Wallach.
A young roster provides a unique situation when compared to the depth of well-established programs.
"We're going to play fast, we're going to play physical, and I think teams are going to probably not like that, but that's what's going to help us because we aren't mature, we haven't seen it all," said Wallach. "When we're strong in the other areas, that's going to make up for some of the things that we're just not great at yet and that's expected. We're in a pretty good spot on our attacking side. We are deep, we have a lot of options so that we can stay fresh, and we can play fast. We can cycle through there," added Wallach.
On the other side of the field Wallach noted, "Our defensive unit is physical and we're going to max that out as much as we can in our game, and I think that's fun to watch."
Despite the inexperience of a young team and new program, Wallach said, "our team is in shape. They're strong, they're physical, and they're fast and that's going make up for a lot of those inexperienced moments that we will face."
With a new team comes new excitement for competition at Spero Financial Field. Fans can expect an exciting atmosphere as they cheer on the Black and Gold.
"We talk about when we score a goal or celebrate that it will be like it was the goal that won the national championship because that's who we are and that's how we want to play together while having fun doing it," said Wallach.
Perspective will play a big role as the Trojans take on every opponent for the first time.
"It's going to be exciting to watch," said Wallach. "I think that we will compete with every team we step on the field with, and I think that a lot of people come to see new programs thinking "well they're going to do what they can" but I coach this team like they're seniors, so the expectation is already set. Nobody needs to tell us and I think that a lot of teams and fans might underestimate us a little bit because we are young and we are freshmen. We will play like that at times for sure which is okay, but we have the ability to put some points on the board," added Wallach.
As a first-year program, The Trojans will face many tough conference opponents. The South Atlantic Conference boasts a level of competitiveness that can be challenging for a mostly freshmen roster.
"We're still in the time of the COVID fifth year so now we're 18-year-olds playing against 22-year-olds and Division I transfers and other high level transfers who have one year left to play and that's a game changer when you're talking about an 18 versus 22-year-old girl," said Wallach. "You're just smarter, wiser, bigger, stronger and there are those girls in our conference."
With the exit of Queens, the SAC overall will look quite different this year.
"Everybody's eyes get bigger," explained Wallach. "That's motivation for a lot of teams that have been in the conference with them for a long time thinking like "Okay now our Achilles heel is gone"."
For the remaining teams in the conference, it will be a whole new field of competition.
"It's wide open and I think every team's going to go into the season playing like that because Queens isn't here," said Wallach. "It is a big difference for the team that finished second every year to Queens. Now they're first. It's a big difference to the team that finished sixth or fourth each year, now they're third and they don't have to play the number one team."
From a coaching perspective, Wallach added, "I think that kind of changes your game plan a little bit. It's a fresh slate. It's a clean slate for a lot of teams so that's going to be interesting, but I'm excited to be in this conference. It's respected, it's known, it goes into the NCAA Tournament with two teams the last few years which is hard to do."
The young Trojan team will join 10 other teams in the SAC as they fight to establish their place in the conference.
"The positive is that the girls don't really have any perspective of some of these teams, so you just go into each game like you're playing any other team," said Wallach, "That's for the coaching staff to worry about. In those moments I want them to play relaxed and I want them to just worry about us and what we do and find those successes along the way in each and every game."
The Black and Gold will play 10 of their 17 games on home turf at Spero Financial Field in their inaugural season. The 2023 South Atlantic Conference Championship is set to begin April 25-28 and conclude with the finals on April 30 in Hartsville, S.C.
