Friday is set to be a big day for Laker athletics at Grand Valley State University. The Lakers have expanded their list of varsity sports to include a women’s lacrosse team, which will take their home field for the first time against Lindenwood University.

The team has been preparing for the upcoming debut season over spring break in North Carolina, where it played exhibition matches against Pfeiffer University, Converse College, Lenoir-Rhyne University and Queens University of Charlotte.

The 10-day trip was long and tiring, head coach Alicia Groveston said upon returning home, but her team is itching
for Friday’s match and a chance to play at home for the first time.

“It was very exciting and at times intimidating for our team to play in its first ever games,” Groveston said. “However, I think they are super pumped to play in front of a home crowd this week. This is when they get to show their families, friends and the entire community how hard they have been working and how far they have come.”

Junior captain Allyson Fritts brushed off the concerns of this being the first season for women’s lacrosse at GVSU.

“Just because we are a new team doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “We work extremely hard to get better and stay in shape for the season,” Fritts said. “We want success and hope that everyone will support
us on our journey.”

Groveston said the trip was very beneficial to get match experience out of the way before the Lakers come home to begin the season.

“Our team got its first win against Converse College, but overall we went 1-3 on Spring Break,” Groveston said. “As a whole, we learned a lot about what we need to work on and how much harder we need to push ourselves.”

Groveston said the team is still developing and that the trip to North Carolina helped in identifying areas that the team needs to fine-polish in order to have a successful first season.

However, she said she is confident her team has what it takes to compete at a high level.

“After our first four games we have seen what we need to work on and which positions we need to develop,” Groveston
said. “Our coaching staff has worked hard to create an athletic, hard working and aggressive style of play. Each of our players are working out their roles. We have the talent to be successful and our players believe that they can play and win at the next level.”

As far as the season goes, the women’s lacrosse team has big goals set to continue a winning tradition at GVSU.

Fritts said though the team is excited, they do feel some pressure from the athletic legacy established by other teams.

“GVSU does nothing but excel at athletics so I feel a pressure to push my teammates and myself to be the best that we possibly can,” Fritts said.

Groveston added that the team would like to finish with an even record and that the Lakers will be targeting specific
opponents, who could become conference rivals at some point in the future.

“The goal we set out to accomplish at the start of the year was to have a .500 record, which I feel is a very achievable,” Groveston said. “In addition, we would like to beat those opponents who will be in our conference in the future such as Tiffin, Lake Erie, Notre Dame College and Urbana.”

First draw for the women’s lacrosse team will be this Friday at home at 4 p.m.

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