Since being reinstated as a varsity sport in 2001, the USM women’s lacrosse program hadn’t been able make it past the championship game of the Little East Conference Tournament until last season.
Slated as the fifth-seed in the 2010 LEC Tourney, the Huskies earned upsets in the quarterfinals over fourth-seeded Western Connecticut, in the semi-finals as they stunned top-seeded Keene State, and in the championship game over third-seeded Eastern Connecticut to win their first ever Conference Championship. They advanced to their first ever DIII NCAA Tournament with a team that featured the 2009 and 2010 LEC Offensive Player of the Year in Jessica Knight (Alfred) and the LEC Rookie of the Year Samantha Kiesel (Lakeville, Mass.), all behind second-year coach Lauren Reid, who was awarded the conference’s Coach of the Year honor.
“The championship meant a lot to the seniors and juniors,” Reid said. “We put blood, sweat and tears into last season, and they knew how hard we worked for it so it was special.”
Reid — who is now in her third year as coach at USM after a stint as JV coach and an assistant on varsity at her alma mater Deering High School — is leading a USM team that is arguably one of the most up-and-coming programs in New England.
Since taking over the reins in 2009 after the departure of former USM coach Sue Frost, Reid has built the program around the same philosophies she played under in her collegiate career. She began her collegiate career in 2003 at the University of Maryland — who boasts a storied women’s lacrosse program that won seven national championships in the nine years before Reid arrived there — where she got to experience an NCAA Final Four which ended in a national semi-final loss to Princeton University, the eventual national champion. She then finished up her final three years of eligibility at UMass-Amherst who also competes at the Division I level.
“At Maryland we were competing at a very high-level, and for a freshman being so far away from home it can be tough,” Reid said. “The girls there did a great job creating a comfortable, family-type environment for younger players like me and that is something I’ve brought to USM.”
“Being a younger coach, the girls can relate to me, and I can relate to what they’re going through, which makes it easier for us to create a positive work environment that players can feed off of,” she said.
After a season that saw Knight and fellow seniors Erica Robertson (St. Albans, VT), Brittany Bennet (Kennebunk), Allison Bradley (Aukland, New Zealand) and Amber Klages (Freeport) graduate, the Huskies are starting from the ground up with a 2011 squad that only has five players returning. The rest of this year’s team is comprised of seven freshmen, a handful of transfers and players who decided to begin playing after being at USM for a year or more. The team is facing issues of depth and inexperience.
This showed in their 12-8 home-opening loss to University of New England at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland on Tuesday afternoon, a game that the Huskies led 7-6 at halftime.
“Our defense did great and we were solid offensively in the first half, but we struggled with our attack in the second half and didn’t take care of the ball,” Reid said. “It’s going to take us a few games to figure out what our roles are on the field and see who can step up and set the tone.”
Reid also touched on the fact that they currently have only two subs on the bench, so getting fresh legs in the game for starters to rest are hard to come by right now.
Although the 2011 team is extremely young and lacks chemistry and depth on the field so far, Reid said they’re even more athletic than last year’s team and have the tools to make another outstanding run.
Seniors Mary Vaughan (Brunswick) and Erica Higginbotham (Winthrop, Mass.) are captaining the team, as they have ample experience and are the type of players that lead by example for underclassmen.
Vaughan is a four-year captain, and although hampered by a wrist injury early on, she will still have a major impact on the team whether on the field or on the sidelines, according to Reid.
Higginbotham only began playing lacrosse four years ago during her freshman year, and is what Reid describes as a real “underdog.”
“Erica’s improvement has been like night and day,” Reid said. “She has taken it upon herself to work hard at something she wasn’t naturally talented at, and has been the person to prove that good work-ethic pays off.”
The Huskies also return Kiesel who was a tremendous force in goal in 2010 and is a great starting point to build on for the future of this young team.
Overcoming obstacles throughout the season is a goal for Reid and her team, as the program has succeeded in the face of adversity before. They fought their way through all of last year’s season to garner the fifth seed and took down all higher seeds on their way to the championship. Even when their bus broke down on I-95 on the way to the championship game making them three hours late, they adjusted and responded. This is why Reid believes they will have a winning season and will be back in the LEC Championship this year.
“Our girls knew how to handle those situations last year,” Reid said. “This year, the first game didn’t end up in our favor and our team got right back to work.”
“From a coaching perspective that is what you want to see,” she said. “I’m am very excited about this year.”
Another killer article by Neill