Chicks with Sticks Are Women's Lax
By Jackie Mark
Staff Writer

You may have already seen us around: schlepping our lacrosse sticks cross-campus, tromping into Frank, sweaty and mosquito-bitten, for post-practice team dinners, or dragging our drunken freshmen "fashion queens" to Monday night dance performances at Snack and Sig Tau. You might have even cheered us on at a match - although if it happened to be the February 18 night game versus CMS, please allow me to apologize profusely for the outcome. I'm not going lie to you - we got our butts kicked. The score was frightful and didn't at all reflect the effort we expended that evening. But in our defense, the Athenas are a big scary D-III Varsity team, and we're still just Club Plus-Plus-Plus…but I digress. Rather than bemoan our seemingly endless, as-of-yet unsuccessful endeavor to gain varsity status, my main point is this: You (yes, YOU!) should get to know the Pomona-Pitzer women's lacrosse team! We're a strong, hard- working group of gals that knows how to have a good time! To help you become the best Sagehen Lacrosse fan you can be, I've compiled this outlook for the season - an insider's preview of the lacrosse excitement yet to come…

This year, the Women's Club Lacrosse team fields 20 lovely ladies, coached by L.A. lacrosse legends Angie Lovell and Sue Steiner. Beth Wilson PI '03 heads up the team as one of this season's captains. Wilson can often be found in the Smith Campus mailroom, sneaking inspirational notes in our mailboxes and extolling the virtues of "team bonding." Also hailing from Pitzer is Heather Wilson '03. A former ice-skater and gymnast, H. Wilson plays lacrosse with style and finesse, but has a mean left-handed switch - watch out for those crease rolls! Jill McClelland '03 will be the first to tell you how much she loves lacrosse (as well as making beer runs for the team).

Steph Svetlik '04 serves as the lacrosse team's second captain. She might be mild-mannered in her Physics classes, but let me tell you, folks, she is an animal on the field! Svetlik can make or break a game, often scoring 6 goals or more for the team. Christy Garcia '04 holds the Most Versatile Player award on the squad. Although she excelled as a goalie last season, this spring Garcia is calling the shots as a ferocious attack player. Julie Schulz '04, 2002 Defender of the Year, is in prime form again this season, if only she can survive the trials of being pre-med. Yours truly, Jackie Mark '04, is famed for converting baller-style defense from the basketball court to the field.

The team has grown over the years since Spring 2001, when the 5-C lacrosse program split into Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps teams. As a result, the sophomore lacrosse players were the first class to be "recruited" to join the Sagehen squad. Accepting the offer to play for the orange and blue were Jordan Bates PI '05, Erin Carter '05 Danielle Grant '05, Chrissy Henneberg '05, Jenny Jaskiewicz '05 and Marie Sullivan '05. Jordan and Erin serve as our D-wings, speedy midfielders capable of moving the ball up the field in a graceful procession of sweet catches and passes. Grant plays a rough-and-tumble game of low-defense lacrosse, often caught muttering "I'm gonna check the f*** out of that (insert opposing team here) girl!" Jenny also plays some intense low-D; our last line of defense, she dares anyone to try to beat her to the goal. At least, that was her job before injuring a tendon in her wrist during practice (that's how intense she is). Now she cheers us on from the sidelines, taking stats and calling plays. Henneberg and Sullivan are our trusty A-wings, also known for moving the ball up the field with speed and style, then BAM! heaving a well-placed shot right into the net.

Rachel Andersson '06, Rose Ehler '06, Martie Finkelstein '06, Megan Groth '06, Emily Horowitz '06, Amelia Huck '06 and Ronnie Rebal '06 round out the team Rebal is a charmer with her sweet, girlish smile - but watch out for her on the field, she's East-Coast tough all the way. Our local star Horowitz fine-tuned her lacrosse schools at Cate School, and is a strong player with an equally strong sense of humor. And now the rookies: although she only picked up lacrosse this fall, Huck has really honed her stick-skills since then and can be counted on to manage play in the midfield. Groth's game has also come a long way since she joined the team - soon she'll be mixing it up with the best of 'em! Last but not least, our goalie Finkelstein: don't be fooled by her petite presence or rookie status - we couldn't have won two league games without her, and every game she serves up more and more saves.

Our home games are located on the soccer field below the track, which during the spring is "on loan" from the soccer team (thanks, boys). Want to cheer us on? Games are usually played mid-morning on weekends. Although some of them may seem a bit early for you all-night partiers out there, just think: you can drag yourself out to the field to root us on, then swagger in to brunch knowing you've accomplished something that morning while all those other suckers were still in bed.

When to look out for us: Don't miss our next two home games, March 8 at 11:00 A.M. versus Pepperdine and March 9 at 11:00 A.M. against UCLA 'B.' Both these teams are tough but beatable - and should be exciting matches to watch.

Our record: Although we lost miserably to CMS, they aren't in our league so they don't count! So far, we have beaten San Diego State University and the University of San Diego. Our only loss was suffered to USC (and we'll get 'em next time). Therefore, our record in the league is 2-1; not undefeated, but really darn close. Thanks to all our fans so far - and if you've never experienced the beauty that is a lacrosse game, we hope to see you soon.