CONWAY – Although lacrosse is more popular in the DMV area (DC, Maryland and Virginia) in the United States, its popularity in the south is always growing.
For Coastal Carolina women’s lacrosse coach Kristen Selvage, in her sixth year coaching Chants, she witnessed the state of South Carolina growing in her love of lacrosse at all levels.
“Watching the growth of the high school level has been incredible, but now we need to work harder and harder so that we can continue to watch South Carolina lacrosse get stronger and stronger,” she said.
The first time she went to a national tournament six years ago, Selvage said the South Carolina team was very weak, but four years later, she realized that the game had increased significantly.
Most of the players on the Chants list are from DMV, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but while they were here on the beach, they liked to help and watch the sport grow in popularity.
Haley Wells, a graduate student defending Baltimore, said that when she started at CCU, the team didn’t do any work with outside lacrosse teams because she was still relatively new to the field.
Now, the team has started donating its cleats so that high school students in the region can learn to practice the sport.
The popularity in the area grew so much that Coastal Carolina formed a club team, in addition to its already established Division I team.
“The coach (Selvage) opened a club team and we started working with that team,” said Wells. “I teach classes every summer that I’m here, working with local girls who have no experience and can’t see Division I college students or even watch games.”
Wells said many girls in the area asked the team to go to games or practice.
Abbey Buchanan, a graduate midfielder from Wrentham, Massachusetts, said the team also runs weekend clinics and after-school lacrosse programs.
“It keeps us super involved with community lacrosse and makes it grow, in addition to increasing our fan base and getting people to come to our games, which also made younger girls enjoy the sport and learn to play,” he said. Is it over there.
So far this season, the CCU women’s lacrosse team is 5-1 on March 16, with its only flaw coming against the then No. 25 Elon. This is the first year that the team is at the Southern Conference, as previously at the Atlantic Sun (the Sun Belt, which hosts most of the other CCU sports, does not have women’s lacrosse).
Although it is his first year playing in a new conference, Selvage hopes the team can win it, learning how to play against all of his new SoCon opponents, helping the team to grow each week.
“I think the big lesson will be how much we can grow and how much we can learn from the regular season conference game so that we can take it to the post-season conference game and, hopefully, beyond that.
In addition to Wells and Buchanan, the program is full of graduate students who have been on the program for five years, including Samantha Courtemanche of Ellicott City, Md.
Courtemanche was named SoCon’s Offensive Player of the Month in February, scoring 19 points from 11 goals and eight assists, taking the offensive attack to a 3-0 start.
“First of all, the constant dedication and continuous development of the game itself,” said Selvage of his fifth-year players. “They didn’t come this year and said that I was here, I have nowhere to go with my talent; they decided that they wanted to be twice as good and twice as suitable, so they set an example and led with a positive attitude.
Selvage also praised them for embracing the team’s “pay ahead” mentality, praising younger players when they do well, which helped build the team’s chemistry.
The Chants have two prominent freshmen this year, goalkeeper Claire Martell, from Verbank, NY, and half Monica Manley, from Westchester, Penn.
Martell was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Month in February. In three games, she caused three twists, caught 11 balls on the ground and allowed only 19 goals, while making 26 saves to a percentage of 0.578.
“I play defense, so I play very close to Claire,” said Wells. “I saw it grow a lot; her confidence soared – she is a vocal leader on our team; she cheers before each game (and) she cheers us all up. She is a big part of the team and definitely the backbone of our defense. “
Manley was named SoCon’s Offensive Player of the Week in the first week of March, when she totaled nine points from six goals and two assists in both Chants’ victories, in addition to winning 11 draws. She hit 1,000 shots in the percentage of goals and also recorded a percentage of 0.857 shots, scoring six goals in just seven shots.
“I remember telling Monica in the fall that I just wanted to continue building her confidence because I knew she would be an important part of our team this spring,” said Buchanan. “After she got off to a great start to the season, I’m so excited for her and I keep reminding her: ‘You are so good and I want you to be confident. You are just a freshman and see what you are doing. ‘”