VIDEO: Women's Lacrosse Holds First Practice of Spring Season
The Regis (Mass.) women’s lacrosse team returned to the field on Monday evening for their first official practice of the 2017 season.
WESTON, Mass. - The Regis (Mass.) women’s lacrosse team returned to the field on Monday evening for their first official practice of the 2017 season. The Pride practiced for nearly two hours at a chilly Regis Stadium.
The team spent the first half hour running a fitness test, before picking up sticks for the first time on the season. The Pride spent a majority of the practice working on passing and catching drills, before breaking out into some 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 drills. The first practice concluded with shooting drills on goalkeepers Maresa Malcolm and Olivia Maggio.
“The first practice went great,” said head coach Courtney Duggan. “I’m really proud of the work (the players) put in over the winter break. It really showed today.”
Regis opens its 2017 season on Feb. 28 on the road against Rivier College. When the sides squared off last season, the Pride won in a 12-11 shootout at Regis Stadium on Apr. 7
The Raiders are the first of four opponents the Pride will face from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference in 2017. Regis will also play Simmons (home, Mar. 14), Emmanuel (away, Mar. 16) and Saint Joseph’s (Maine) (home, Mar. 29) for the final time as non-conference opponents this season.
The Pride will get a heavy dose of opponents from the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference in 2017, with four of the team’s five remaining non-conference matchups slated for MASCAC schools. The Pride’s MASCAC opponents are Mass.-Maritime, Salem State, Fitchburg State and Framingham State, while New England College is the team’s lone non-conference opponent not a member of the GNAC or MASCAC.
The defending NECC champion Pride will open its final season of New England Collegiate Conference play on Saturday, Mar. 25 when the team hosts Mitchell College at 12:00 p.m. A rematch with Southern Vermont, who the Pride beat 16-8 in last season’s NECC Championship, is slated for Saturday, Apr. 22 at the Mountaineers’ Everett Field.
“We have a tough schedule,” Duggan said. “We need to make sure we’re just playing our game. We’re going to be tested from Day One all the way through to May.”
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