Follow The Women's Lacrosse Team In South Carolina

Follow women's lacrosse captains Angela Grassetti, Jackie Lawlor and Vicki O'Brien as they blog and travel to Hilton Head, South Carolina for the week. You can also follow the WSU Women's Lacrosse Team On Twitter & Facebook

Previous Posts - 3/17/14 - Traveling To Hilton Head | 3/18/14 - Bike Riding & The Salty Dog | 3/19/14 - A Big Win & Mini Golfing | 3/20/14 - Bike Riding & Alligators

"In Vick We Trust"

Today we woke up for team breakfast at 7:30 AM. The coaches cooked us eggs and toast for a pregame meal. We went over our goals for the game then headed for the field. The contest started out close with a score of 3-1, Fairleigh Dickinson taking the lead. We fought hard, but slipped behind for FDU to bring home the win with a final score of 17-11.

The afternoon consisted of pool, shopping and bike riding. All the girls enjoyed a beautiful last day in the sun. The main goal of the day was to even out our jersey tan lines. To add to more reckless fun, Kaila (Chaase) fell off her bike with nothing to cause her fall, forcing Angie (Sutherland) to swerve into the road.

We all headed back to our rooms to put the final touches on our skits and to get ready for the dinner buffet in Harbor Town. Our last supper was a turkey dinner that obviously ended in a team ice cream outing. We enjoyed watching the sunset and snapped a couple pictures to conclude our last night in Hilton Head. Trying to take the picture was somewhat difficult when all the girls were being divalicious about all the bugs.

SKIT TIME!

Angela's eight-person villa made a skit re-creating the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song. They changed the lyrics and directed it towards WSU lacrosse. Jackie's six-person suite was up next and performed the Napoleon Dynamite "Vote for Pedro" dance. Vicki's five-person villa re-enacted movie quotes from the movie Mean Girls and directed them towards WSU lacrosse.

All week there were prank wars between the three villas.

Vicki's villa began the war by scaring Angela's late at night by banging on the walls and unexpectedly swinging the door open by pounding on it. Ang's villa enjoyed it so much they were recruited to go scare Jackie's villa. They hid outside and banged on the walls creating Jackie's villa to panic and scream. The girls attacked Jackie's villa another time and even though they knew it was coming and who it was, the girls still reacted and didn't know to scream or laugh.

The Jackies six person villa retaliated the following night (on Friday) by sneakily stealing Vicki's villa room key from their room. They scared them from the back door causing Meaghan (Roche) to scurry upstairs so they could sneak into the villa. Meg was shrieking and jumped into bed with Vicki and Jackie (Connors). Jackie Lawlor’s villa pounded on the walls inside and ran upstairs to scare them all.

It was a great way to end the week full of team bonding. 

This week successfully brought us together closer as a team. We got to know each other in ways that we didn't know before. We are excited to get our season going as a strong team and look forward to making more memories. Our field at Worcester State is cleared off and we are ready to host our first home game on Tuesday at 4PM against UMass Dartmouth.

Jackie, Angela and Vicki

Photo Above - The Worcester State Women's Lacrosse Team poses on Harbor Town Beach After Getting Ice Cream

Photo Below (Top) - Members of the Women's Lacrosse Team Take In Some Bike Riding At Hilton Head Island

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March 20, 2014 - Bike Riding & Alligators

Happy First Day of Spring!

Today we got to sleep in an extra hour because practice was at 9:30 AM. We showed up for practice determined and ready to make improvements from Wednesday's game. We did a lot of stick work and had a very successful practice. Even (athletic trainer) Jess Meany got some lacrosse experience! Our hard work resulted in the afternoon off!

After practice we came back, ate lunch and speedily got ready for the sunny afternoon ahead! Some of the girls went to Coligny Shopping plaza while others went straight to the beach. The bike ride took 20 minutes for most, but much longer for those that went to the wrong beach... Some of the team was still recovering from the sun yesterday and were covered in clothes head to toe (Katelyn Murphy and Jackie Connors). The water was chilly, but very refreshing and yes some of the girls took the daring plunge! We stayed at the beach for a few hours then headed to Coligny Plaza to get smoothies, coffees and FREE Italian ice.

15 of us began the bike ride back to our villas. On the way the captains and the coaches found it extremely amusing to use our hand signals for safety precautions, although the rest of the team didn't enjoy it so much. We saw several alligators sunbathing in the lagoons during our travels.

Our coaches took a detour across a narrow bridge to get a closer look at one of them, so the team followed; All 15 of us on one single-file bridge at one time. Every "gator sighting" that occurred resulted in a complete stop and photo opportunity.

There were a couple off-roading experiences that resulted in Jackie Lawlor falling in sinking sand because she followed Coach Kelly (Downs) into a sand pit. Naturally, Angela (Grassetti), followed directly in Jackie's path, falling on top of her. Vicki (O’Brien), being the responsible captain (a nervous wreck), in complete panic jumped off her bike and ordering the rest of the team to WALK their bikes through the sand.

Before dinner, a couple of the girls took a pit stop at the golf course that our villas overlook. We sadly realized that our trip was almost over and enjoyed the view of the sun beaming on the course.

To prepare for our game tomorrow the coaches cooked us a BBQ with burgers, hotdogs and pasta salad. We all relaxed for a couple hours and headed back to our villas to prepare for our room skits (stay tuned for tomorrow's blog.)

It was an early night for the team to get ready for tomorrow's matchup at 10 AM vs. Fairleigh Dickinson.

Jackie, Angela and Vicki

Photo Above - Members of the Women's Lacrosse Team Pose With An Alligator In The Background

Photo Below (Top) - Assistant Coach Kelly Downs Watches The Women's Lacrosse Team Warms Up For Practice On Their Off Day

Photo Below (Bottom) - Another View Of The Alligator Across The Way

 

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March 19, 2014 - A Big Win & Mini Golfing

"Speak kind words and you will hear kind echoes"

We started off the morning with breakfast at 7:30 AM. The coaches cooked us eggs, toast and strawberries to fuel us up for the game. We did our pregame routine, including a hand game at the villas before we left and went over our goals for the team. We then loaded up the vans and listened to the warm up CD on our way.

Game time was at 10 AM against Eastern Connecticut. We played aggressively and positively to end the first half in a tied 5-5 game. At half time we rallied and came out playing strong. We rose above and played classy in a very even matched, aggressive game to come out with a win (hence the quote at the beginning).  The contest ended 13-11 to keep our season undefeated.

After the game we came back, shoved our faces with food and rode our bikes to the pool. Everyone treated the weather like it was 90 degrees even though it was only 55. We did not prepare our bodies for it which resulted in a team of lobsters. After the pool, some of the girls went to Harbor Town for some shopping and walked the docks.

With an unexpected delay of dinner, the team went for a bike ride and saw an alligator! We got a text saying dinner was ready and all raced back for coaches chicken, rice and broccoli dish that was delicious.

After dinner we were assigned our groups for mini golfing. The villas competed against each other including the coaches.

The laughs were contagious and our abswere sore from all the giggling. Coach Brian (McDermott) had the best score, but in hot pursuit Alaina (Martin) was in second. The sisters that need practice at mini golf would be the triplets (Vicki O'Brien, Katelyn Murphy, Meaghan Roche) who brought up the rear.

That was a perfect way to end our night!

Angela Grassetti, Jackie Lawlor and Vicki O’Brien

Photo Above - The Women's Lacrosse Team Poses In The Clubhouse After Their Round of Mini Golf

Photo Below (Top) - Quotation From The Opening Found On The Mini Golf Course

Photo Below (Bottom) - Lighthouse On The Walk To Harbor Town

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Tuesday, March 18, 2014 - Bike Riding & The Salty Dog

"If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes"

Our morning started with a cancelled practice and a team outing to the Salty Dog shopping plaza. We explored the shops and bought souvenirs. While shopping, we finally received a call confirming practice. With the weather not being on our side, we conveniently located to an outdoor rollerblading rink for practice. Before we loaded in the vans, we got a text saying our bikes arrived.

All 19 of us sprinted to the coaches villa, hopped on the bikes and took a ride around the villas. As you can imagine, this was a funny sight since none of us have been on bikes for many years. Naturally, we fearlessly rode with one hand (or no hands), took pictures and videos every second we got. This resulted in a shattered phone (Mackenzie Callini), two girls riding one bike (Jackie Lawlor and Angela Grassetti) and a teammate on the ground (Amanda Pruyn).

Getting back to why we are here (for lacrosse, of course) practice on the roller skating rink was interesting, to say the least. We adapted to the slippery, concrete, life threatening ground and mostly managed to stay on our feet (besides Katelyn Murphy, Jackie and Amy Tucker). We ended practice with our favorite drill and a ball search through the muddy landscape.

Our next team outing was to Coligny Plaza shortly after practice where we shopped more, finally got our caffeine and sugar fix. The team bought sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, jewelry and sunglasses for the sun that is coming tomorrow...hopefully. Considering our weeks supply of food ran out in one day, we went Piggly Wiggly Supermarket to restock the food.

On the way home, we stopped at a place where you would think the team never saw before...THE BEACH!!!!!! We ran to the water faster than our sprints for the day and took cliché "beach pics". Although it was gross weather, we still managed to make it a good time and plan to do the same tomorrow.

The coaches and (our athletic trainer) Jessica Meany cooked us a five-pound pasta feast to bulk us up for TOMORROW'S GAME!!!!!!! The team bonded by imitating each other in an unforgettable game of charades where most of the team was in tears of laughter.

With a positive practice, the sun coming out and our preparation for tomorrow, we can't wait to take on Eastern Connecticut at 10 AM. Everyone is ready to make an impact on the field and just remember..."If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes"

Jackie, Angela and Vicki

Photo Above - The Women's Lacrosse Team Poses On The Beach

Photo Below (Top) - The Women's Lacrosse Team Takes A Second To Smile On The South Beach Pier

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Monday, March 17, 2014 - Traveling To Hilton Head

The Worcester State women's lacrosse team met this morning at 2:45 AM to travel to Logan Airport for our tournament in Hilton Head, South Carolina. We were all still half asleep and excited to start our Spring Break together considering this is the first year we have flown for a trip.

We checked in at 4:30 for our 6 AM flight, but when we arrived at the gate and were told there was a delay for inclement weather. However, Coach Brian (McDermott) saved the day in a great plot twist by coming back with great news, saying that our flight was available now AND it has just 27 passengers with us being 21 of them.

No one sat near us on the plane and we got to spread out. It was a great start to our Spring Break!

Naturally, we arrived in SC and it was pouring. Typical that we brought the bad weather with us. We loaded our two 15 passenger vans with more luggage  than people. We were cranky, ravenous, tired, miserable and anxious to get to Hilton Head. But wait...Hilton Head was two hours away. After difficulty of choosing a place to eat we grabbed lunch and arrived at Sea Pines Resort.

 We got with our "team sisters" and split up into our three villas. It was 1:30 PM at this point with a scheduled practice at 3 PM. With Hilton Head being known for its amazing golf courses, they do not have turf fields. In other words, the grass field we were supposed to have practice on was under water. So there was NO PRACTICE.

In a plot twist (and with #nodaysoff) there was a fitness center. After an intense conditioning and strength workout, it was finally time to clean up and go to the Yacht Club buffet.  Dinner consisted of lasagna, unforgettable garlic bread, salad and ice cream.

After being up and active for so many hours, it is 7 PM (A.K.A.) bedtime. With another exciting day ahead of us we have a 9 AM team outing and a practice in the afternoon. Hopefully our luck turns around and the weather allows us to practice.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Jackie, Angela and Vicki

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