Building a new program takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but more importantly a group of people that truly believes in the cause. USC women's lacrosse embarked on its historic first season in 2013 finishing 8-10 overall but 5-3 in conference play. Now that they have a season under their belt, the Women of Troy are looking ahead to moving past all the attention surrounding their rookie season.
"Our mission is just to get better every single day," said head coach Lindsey Munday. "That's what our focus has been on, on what we can do every single day to improve. We haven't set goals or talked about where we want to be in the end. We've just focused on where we want to be today."
This mentality would be nothing but words if it weren't for the army of girls who make this new program's success possible. Their determination to be the best that they can be each day and the work that they have put in in the offseason promises for an exciting 2014 season.
"It's amazing to be a part of something new and being able to pave your own way," said sophomore Amanda Johansen. "Especially with the coaches that we have, you want to win and you want to put your best into it. You want to compete every single day so it's really something that I'm never going to forget."
Johansen started in every single game as a freshman finishing with 41 goals and 16 assists in her rookie season. After working primarily on her weak hand in the offseason, the sophomore is looking to be even more dynamic on the field, especially as a leader.
"It's definitely a different game in college than it is in high school. Everyone needs to get out of their old habits because it's a different game. People are stronger, faster and more skilled so coming out of high school and having a majority of the girls on the team be freshmen last year we all had to get out of those habits really quickly," explained the sophomore midfielder. "This year it helps because there are people there telling the new girls coming in what they need to do to succeed from the beginning so we aren't having to waste any time breaking old habits."
The Trojans welcome 13 freshmen to their 37-woman squad who everyone is hoping will make an immediate impact just like last year. "Obviously, just being a freshman is so special," said Munday. "They're just so excited and passionate about being here and being a part of this. It's really cool because our older players have set the standard for what we want USC lacrosse to be and now the freshmen get to come in and be a part of it."
And that's exactly what this young women's lacrosse program has done: they've bought into the mentality and executed it tremendously.
"There really aren't any expectations. There aren't any goals for this season. We're all about getting better every single day." said Munday. "I was just so proud of the girls last year...I really think for them it was just their passion and their commitment. They didn't rely on the fact that they were young in this new program. They just wanted to be the best they could be. I'm just proud of them for buying in, for being mature and working as hard as they possibly could and continuing to do so."
Make sure to check out these hardworking Trojans in action as they try to build on what they started when they take on the Marist Red Foxes on Cromwell Field at 3:00pm.
