By Kaitlyn McConnell | Staff Writer
Riding on the high of qualifying for the Northwest Conference Lacrosse Tournament last year, Whitworth University’s women’s lacrosse has a positive outlook on the upcoming season. In 2023, the team finished 6-12 in their season and 4-8 in the Northwest Conference, placing them fourth in the standings. The program, headed by Coach Noelle Brouillard, is relatively new, with 2024 being its sixth year. Despite its newness, the program has grown considerably in the past year and has ambitions for the 2024 season.
“[We are] super goal-oriented this year, and we’ve set the goal of not only getting to the conference tournament, which we did last year, [but] winning a game once we get there. So, we’re going to be in the final two games. And we’re setting that goal now, and I’m super excited about that,” said sophomore Sierra Witte.
The question is: what is this goal-orientated team like? “This team is unlike any other team. That’s a big blessing. There’s a lot of amazing talent on this team, and we are all really close and dynamic, and so I am super pumped to be with this team,” said senior Abby Hahn.
Hahn has been with the program since 2020 when the growing trend that the team had established in the previous seasons crumbled due to COVID-19. Brouillard approached Hahn due to her experience as a soccer player. “I’ve never played lacrosse before. So, obviously, those challenges are hard and like losing every game, it’s not the most fun, but we had resilience and grit, and we just stuck with it,” said Hahn. “[We’re] seeing the fruits of our labor, and we’re winning games, and we are a competitor for a conference tournament.”
“If you meet a coach who hasn’t gone through things or a team that hasn’t been through things, then I’d be a little scared,” said Brouillard. “You don’t know what adversity is, and you don’t know how you’re going to work through that and what that’s going to look like.”
Brouillard described the 2024 team as unique, competitive and quirky. Witte summed up her personal goals for this season: to have fun. “This season has been so lighthearted and fun. I just want to keep that energy and remind myself that I started playing this game because I love it, and I’m still playing this game because I love it. I have such an opportunity to play with these girls, [whom] I love, on this team, said Witte. The team shares this sentiment with joy and a fight for the coming season. So, as the Whitworth women’s lacrosse team says: let them cook.
*This article was edited on April 3, 2024 to reflect the updated version of the Whitworth lacrosse team’s catchphrase, as communicated to The Whitworthian by the Whitworth lacrosse team.