Women’s lacrosse start off season at 5-1, Lady Bullets employ motivational one-word strategy for successful 2016 season
Photo courtesy of Gettysburg Athletics. Women’s lacrosse ranked sixth in the latest IWLCA Division III Poll.
Emily Sheehan, Staff Writer
The Gettysburg women’s lacrosse team is no stranger to success. With fourteen straight trips to the NCAA tournament and a 2011 national championship under their belt, Coach Cantele and the 2016 Bullets seem to know just what they are getting into.
In the preseason poll the Bullets were ranked first in the Mid-Atlantic division, and after a 5-1 record to start the season off, Gettysburg is ranked sixth in the nation.
But how do the Bullets achieve such abundant success?
Teamwork is the biggest factor in the Bullet’s success, and this year they are achieving that success through a collection of words. Each player on the team has chosen a specific word to live by for the season, and the words are meant to become a reoccurring theme to the girls throughout the season.
In a recent interview, first-years Jenna Letigeb and Steph Colson were able to share their feelings on how the one-word policy has impacted their season thus far.
Jenna said, “My word, resilient, is very personal and definitely has a lot of meaning to me. I think that choosing one specific word to come back to throughout the season has really helped me to stay focused on, and to not lose sight of, the person and the player that I wanted to be right from the beginning of the season.”
The girls continuously motivate each other to stay true to the word they picked, both on and off the lacrosse field. They hold each other accountable to their word when it becomes hard, and motivate each other in both practices and games.
Jenna said, “Choosing this one word has definitely created a strong team mentality in all of us because even though we all have our own specific and personal words, the reason we want to live them out in our play is because of each other.”
First-year midfielder, Steph Colson, was also able to give her perspective on the one word mentality the women’s lacrosse team holds.
Steph said, “My word is believe. As a freshman, I really wanted to come into the season believing in myself and my abilities and believe in my other teammates which is a big part of being a part of a team. I love the one word because it holds each of us accountable for not only ourselves but others as well.”
Day after day the women’s lacrosse team inspires each other to live out the meaning of their word both for themselves, and the good of the team. It is through the strength that they get from each other that they are able to come together as a unit and be so successful.
As for the rest of the season the team has very high hopes. Jenna said, “I see big things for our team just because of how hard every single person is willing to work for the girl beside them!”
Steph said, “Our team is so strong this year and I’m so excited to see where the year takes us.”
Next the Bullets take on Haverford at Clark Field for a home game this Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m.
Good luck to the women’s lacrosse team on a successful rest of the season!
