The women's lacrosse program at Southwestern will reach its ten-year mark in spring 2023, by all means, it is still a new and developing program. Head Coach Kaitlyn Hafdell just finished her third season of competition with the Pirates, her first true normal season discounting 2020 and 2021.
When asked if she expected this season to go as well as it did, Hafdell responded, "I had a good feeling going into the season, we had essentially the same team as we did last year. But reaching thirteen wins, having all of the player accolades we did, Raven breaking records as well, I don't think I expected that."
The Pirates starting lineup was stacked heading into the season, eight players on the roster received All-SCAC honors in 2021 including Midfielder of the Year Emma Pertuit and Defender of the Year, Brooke Folliard. Although the Pirates' 6-5 record in 2021 may not have been indicative of a breakout in 2022, there was no denying they had the experience and the talent to win more games than ever.
Easily breaking the program's all-time wins mark, the team shattered records this season. Offensively the Pirates were a force to be reckoned with. Goal scorers were positioned at every end of the field.
As a team, the Pirates broke the record for the number of goals in a season with 249, 36 more than the previous record. Additionally, they had 369 points as a team including 120 assists, breaking the previous assist mark by 20, proving that this team could not only find the back of the net, but they were unselfish as well.
Along with the offensive attack came a great defense and excellent play on the draw control as well. The Pirates broke the record for draw controls in a season. Defensively, the team had the most saves ever and what is more impressive is that they only gave up an average of 8.19 goals a game. Over three goals better than the previous mark.
These records all accumulate to the best season in the program's nine-year history. Thirteen wins with only three losses. The Pirates had a perfect 8-0 record at home and smashed the previous best season of 8-8. They did it with the help of the most distinguished offensive player in program history, Raven Garcia.
"We were unselfish across the board on offense, Raven is great at having her head up and reading the field. She has such a great lacrosse IQ and always keeps her cool", says Hafdell.
Garcia broke three of the most prestigious scoring categories this season, gaining the title for most points, goals, and assists in a career. Garcia had always been a prolific scorer, scoring 29 goals her freshman year and 40 goals her junior year in 2021. If not for the canceled season in 2020, she might have achieved the record for most points, goals, and assists well before her final year.
"Her objective this year was to take over the offense and be more confident, although she's always scored a lot, she felt like she was in the shadows of some of her teammates in previous years", says Hafdell.
"But this season she felt like she met her goals and was very happy with the outcome, again she just has a great IQ, never gets discouraged, and has figured out the game".
In the past, Garcia's goal total outweighed her assists. However this year, she nearly doubled her assist total from 17 in 21' to 30 in 2022. Garcia truly commanded the offense, accounting for 25 percent of the team's total assists, drawing defenders with her dodging and finding teammates to dish the ball off to for the score.
Although Garcia took the lead this year on the offense, her teammates did just as well in spreading the ball around. Five veteran players had double-digit assists throughout the season including midfielder DeAnna Hames who nearly eclipsed 50 goals this season as well as 24 assists. The two created a dynamic duo from the attack and the midfield line that made it impossible for opposing defenses to stop.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, Garcia has gone on to graduate and she won't be the only one that will be missed. They will also lose their depth at the goaltender spot, graduating Sofia Valdespino who ranks highly in all of Southwestern goalie statistical categories.
On the other side of the ball, the Pirates will lose their team captain and the voice of the defense, Natasha Perez-Krause. Perez-Krause is a true two-way midfielder, with the ability to make smart decisions with the ball on offense, organize her teammates and take on the team's best player.
"Natasha is really smart and understands how to control the ball well in tough situations, it will be tough without her on the field", says Hafdell.
How does Southwestern replace a two-time All-SCAC selection in Perez-Krause, and Garcia, the SCAC Attacker of the Year?
"It will be interesting to see how the offense is going to run, the dynamic of the team will definitely change without them on the field. I want Emma, Rocky, and DeAnna to step up as leaders of the team, not just be good players for us."
"We had the help of some really good freshman this year with Sierra Rupp and Kate Vlasek, the recruiting class coming in will take time but they are all hard workers and will become great additions to the team," says Hafdell
Although this senior class will be hard to replace, Southwestern will have fourteen players coming back, all of which have multiple years of starting and valuable experience, including SCAC Defender of the Year Emma Pertuit and eight other All-SCAC selections. Even given Southwesterns' extraordinary success this season, Coach Hafdell is looking to be competitive at a higher level.
"To build off the success and grow, we need even tougher opponents. I'm willing to sacrifice the wins to play in tougher competition, so the goal is to find good teams to schedule and play against. We have gotten better, beating teams that previous teams never have, and to keep recruiting well, we need good opponents." explains Hafdell.
There is no doubt that the talent is there for Southwestern, they just haven't had the depth to run against teams such as the likes of their conference opponent, Colorado College, whose roster nearly doubles that of Southwestern.
In their conference championship game against the Colorado College Tigers, the Pirates were scoring right there with them and did so in the first and third quarters. However, the depth of the Tigers allowed them to sub in fresh legs who were equally as talented as the starters.
"It's impossible to keep up the pace when the depth just isn't there yet," explains Hafdell. The talent pool is there for recruiting, especially in Texas, with twelve of the seventeen players on the roster being from the lone star state.
"The program was a little behind in recruiting when I arrived. Kids still ask 'where is Southwestern?' or they want to try and prove themselves somewhere else in the country, so I am hoping our recent success will put us on the map and show girls that if they want to play and win they should come here," Hafdell says.
While Coach Hafdell works to show future players the appeal of Southwestern, she hopes that her players will stay on the grindstone, maintaining their conditioning, skills, and abilities.
"This team had a good balance of working hard AND having fun. Now we know we can win, hopefully, that will motivate the players to continue to work hard. They have a taste of success and ideally will want to continue it instead of being complacent. With a ton of players coming back we should pick up right where we left off".