By Mike Rudin -- SPORTS EDITOR
The Hofstra Pride women’s lacrosse team recently ended its nonconference schedule with a 2-7 record. The Pride now stands 3-8 overall, 1-1 in CAA after the opening CAA action against William & Mary and James Madison.
Just before the team traveled down to Virginia for the weekend, I had the chance to talk to head coach Shannon Smith about the team.
Mike Rudin: So your team went 2-7 in the first nine games but split the last four. How has your team progressed throughout the season?
Shannon Smith: Obviously, [it was] a little bit of a disappointing start, but I think that we have a locker room filled [with] really resilient kids who have a lot of heart and passion. And we’re starting to work hard.
I think our roster is really young and we gained a lot of experience in the beginning part of our season. Now we have that experience and we’re starting to put it together … We’re starting to clear the ball better, but now we’re dealing with injuries – team injuries. We lost a couple of key players for the season and so we have some other players stepping up.
I just think it’s an exciting part of our season right now because we’ve gained a lot of experiences from the games that we played and we’re going into conference play where it’s a brand new season.
MR: Since Tiana Parrella has missed the last two non-conference games, how has her absence impacted the team and is she close to competing again soon?
SS: Tiana Parrella is just dealing with a lower body injury right now so we’re hoping she can come back; she is not one of the players that are done for the season.
We’re hoping she can come back here, but it’s all going to depend on her recovery right now.
I think that she’s a big miss, she’s a dynamic threat for us. She can feed the ball, she can dodge, but I think that Morgan Knox [and] Lexi Lenaghan have been stepping up … and a lot of players have been playing better at practice. Amanda Seekamp is starting to get her offensive groove back so we’re excited.
Tiana is a big miss and hopefully we can get her healthy towards the end of the season.
MR: Lindsay Scott has become an offensive catalyst with 31 goals in nonconference. How has her presence made a difference?
SS: Scott is a very special player. She’s like that freshman and senior all [in] one and I think that she’s really starting to take over that leadership role on the attack.
She just loves playing the game of lacrosse; she’s always smiling everyday at practice.
She has a lot of passion for the game. She loves playing and she loves playing with her teammates. They do a great job at cutting for her, opening up for her [and] giving Lindsay her dodges.
Lindsay comes off of cuts a couple of times so kids are stepping in and being able to get her the ball. So she’s a great player and I think she’s only going to open up more for other players because a lot of teams are going to start keying on her.
But she’s very quick, fast and athletic. Her work ethic is unparalleled compared to others and she can really finish the ball.
MR: You’ve mainly switched between Alexis Green and Maddie Fields defending the net. Do you plan to use one goalie more often than the rest or stick with a platoon?
SS: I think it all [depends] on who’s hot that game day. If they’re not doing well in the first half or we’re not afraid to pull them, [we will] put the other goalie in. Maddie Fields is playing well right now, but if she’s having a rough day, then we have Alexis Greene.
If Alexis Greene is having a rough day, we have Sara Guarascio, so they continue to battle it out everyday at practice and we’re challenging them to also get better outside of practice because we need our goalies to play well in the month of April.
MR: The defense has had some rough outings, some against the best teams in the country. But has their overall performance gone in the direction you were looking for?
SS: I think it was rough for the defense in the beginning of the season. We were playing a lot of defense and they were struggling on getting on the same page of each other. Getting that defensive chemistry that they needed [and] the communication.
Communication is talking but also listening, trusting one another. I think they struggled in those areas but I think we’ve done a lot of team building. We’ve done a lot of activities and we really emphasized things at practice. We showed them film and they can see what exactly we’re saying is where they’re struggling.
I think they’ve gotten a lot better over these past few games so they’ve been working really hard and we’re going to need them to continue to get better … I really saw that against Columbia, they battled with a little more spunk in them.
MR: Has it been mainly the defense or as a team altogether that you aimed to improve in certain areas?
SS: It’s an overall team effort. I think it’s bringing it everyday and bringing that passion and that fire and that intensity and focus everyday to practice. It’s hard to do and we need to continue to be competitive. I think draw controls is an area that we need to get better at.
I think we’re inconsistent … and that’s something we are continuing to get better on … [this includes] overall stick work and being able to clear the ball up and down the field.
On offense, we have to do a better job at producing more and not having mental turnovers where we probably shouldn’t have that turnover and just being able to finish our shots.
We do have a good offense it’s just that they’re hot and cold some days … hopefully we can put both sides of the field together, playing well and for a full 60 minutes.
MR: With nonconference over and CAA play just starting, do you have a better sense of where your team stacks up when compared to the rest of the conference teams?
SS: I think it’s huge, but I also think that the CAA, when it’s conference [play], is a lot different than your nonconference schedule. I think it’s really a backyard brawl that anybody can win on any given day.