Foundation set for lacrosse after finishing inaugural season
At the beginning of the season, Head Lacrosse Coach Sara Tisdale used a house analogy to describe her expectations for Central Michigan lacrosse in its inaugural season. She said the first season would set the tone for how the program will be built, like pouring cement to start the foundation for a house.
“When that cement truck backs up to the slab, it’s important that it’s poured evenly, solid and with great design,” she said. “If there’s a single crack in that foundation, the house will be weak. Overall, I’m very comfortable with the tone we’ve set this season and I’m excited to see the house we’ll build on top of this foundation.”
After failing to qualify for the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament, the Central Michigan lacrosse team wrapped up its inaugural season on Sunday, May 1 with a 6-10 record.
The Chippewas collected their second conference win over Howard Friday, April 29, but fell to second seed Old Dominion 17-8 the following Sunday. The team finished 2-6 in the A-Sun.
CMU finished seventh out of nine A-Sun teams, just missing the chance to play in the conference tournament. The top six seeds advance to the championship.
“From a record perspective, we definitely had higher hopes,” Tisdale said. “We wanted to be competing and knew would could compete in the Atlantic Sun tournament. But in terms of growth and potential, this team has been very exciting to watch.”
Midfielder Jocelyn Lemay led the Chippewas with 35 goals on 64 shots in the 2016 season. She was named to the all-conference second-team, the all-freshman team and was the league’s sixth-leading goal scorer during the regular season.
Logan Halvorson and Anna Schoonover were also named to the all-freshman team. Halvorson led the Chippewas defensively, picking up 43 ground balls overall this season.
Dominique Hamman recorded 117 saves in net this season, saving 14 in CMU’s final game against ODU.
“I’m sad because we didn’t expect that to be our last game,” Hamman said. “It’s also a positive thing because we finished strong and we have three more years together to improve, so that will be exciting.”
