It didn’t feel much like the fourth day of February when the Sagehen women’s lacrosse team hosted University of San Diego for their league opener the Sunday before last. Neither team was prepared for Sunday’s heat, and players from both teams looked flushed by the first timeout. However, the Sagehen defenders managed to stay cool, as most of the first half was played around the USD goal. In the opening 20 minutes, the Sagehens scored three unanswered goals on the way to a 6-2 halftime lead.

The Pomona-Pitzer club team couldn’t hold that pace for the entire game–by the second half, the game evened out and USD was able to mark a few goals off of the women’s defense. "They had a lot more subs than we did, and we ran out of steam towards the middle of the second half," said Allison Fussell-Louie ’04. USD continued to pressure the tiring team to bring about a score of six up, but was not ever able to take the lead. "We really showed up in the final minutes of the game," commented Fussell-Louie. The best the visitors could do was leave with a respectable 10-8 defeat.

Skip forward one week to the following Saturday. Now the lacrosse team was begging for a little sunshine. By 11:00 am Saturday morning, it was raining so hard that the game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo had to be moved to the CMS intramural field, where the soggy turf turned to mud. Pomona-Pitzer controlled the game early on, but began to get sloppy towards the end of the first half. "The lead got to our heads, and we began playing a little weaker," said Jacky Oviedo ’01. The Sagehens took their time getting back into stride. In the final minutes of the game, the team found themselves down by one goal.

It took a last minute surge to save the game. With a minute left to go, Sagehen Steph Suetlik ’04 tied the score at nine. Thirty seconds later, Marcelle Ferguson ’01 pushed Pomona-Pitzer over the top with the game’s final goal. Saturday’s victory placed the club in a tie with CMS for first place in league standings.

These first two wins are a hopeful sign for the club, which has been entirely revamped since last year’s successful season in which the team made it to league quarterfinals. Women’s lacrosse at the Claremont Colleges is on its way to becoming an official sport, and the route has been a difficult one for the team. For starters, last year’s 5-C club has been cleaved in two. "It was tough, we lost half our team to CMS," said Gill McClelland ’03 starting in her second year. Though there is now one more CMS team for Pomona-Pitzer to slap around, the Sagehen lacrosse team lost some of its most experienced players. And as if losing half the team to the Athenas was not bad enough, last year’s squad had to say goodbye to seven graduating seniors. To counteract the breakup of last year’s team, women’s lacrosse has gotten a tremendous influx of new bloodæthe team is heavily weighted with rookies. "Everybody plays in all the games," said McClelland. She added that the team was coming together well.

The team’s transition year has had other positives, too. To start with, the team’s status has been boosted to a limbo called "club plus," a state in between club and varsity that merits a full-time paid coach, a real lacrosse playing field, and more funding.

The new coach, Erin Kramer, has been instrumental in the development of the team. Experienced as a high school coach, she is fitting in well. "It’s great to have an experienced coach, but the best thing about her is that she really wants to be there," said McClelland. "She’s really dedicated to making us go varsity next year," Fussell-Louie added.

Under Kramer, the team is practicing more efficiently and often. They are doing much more conditioning work, and have started a team weight regimen. This is only one aspect of the new seriousness of the team. "It’s more intense this year," Gill said. "We’re trying to reflect the fact that we’re a club that’s about to go varsity next year, not just a girls club that likes to party."

The next Women’s lacrosse home game will be held at 7:30 pm next Wednesday on the football field, against Whittier College.