Gettysburg Hoping to Be Gracious Hosts
by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Coyne
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| Lexie Hearn and the Bullets are hoping to make another
run to the national semifinals so they can enjoy the comforts of
their home field. © John Strohsacker |
As much as Gettysburg head coach Carol Cantele expected to be
heartbroken about the Bullets' loss to Salisbury in the national
semifinals, the disappointment just wouldn't set in.
Initially, it was tough for her to figure out exactly why.
After some introspection, she realized part of it came from knowing
her team played as well as it could, but fell a goal short to a
better team that day. Part of it was the team had far surpassed
Cantele's expectations — "I was thinking we aren't that good
this year, and they made a fool of me," she said with a laugh.
But the primary reason only became apparent after the team bus
coasted back onto campus that Saturday evening.
"We had that final departure off of the bus and I looked at all of
their faces thinking, 'This is good,'" said Cantele, also the head
coach of the U.S. Developmental team. "As the players walked off, I
said to myself, 'I'm going to see you and you and you next year,'
and that is when it really hit me. We're just going to pick up
where we left off. That's the plan."
The coach reached her epiphany hours after most of her players did.
While they were deferential to the emotions of defender Sara
Tolner, who had just completed her career, the players had an
unstated understanding of what the 2010 season held for the
Bullets.
"I remember having two thoughts," said Lexie Hearn, a senior this
spring and two-time captain. "Knowing that Sara, our only senior,
had played her last game, and that [the rest] were all returning
for another chance."
Rare is the team that loses just one player after a march to the
final four, but here come the Bullets, returning every single point
from a 16-4 campaign — including big guns Nina Emala (45g,
36a) and Hollis Stahl (64g, 6a). And if they needed any more
motivation other than returning their team essentially intact, the
Gettysburg players will have another incentive to match, if not
exceed by one game, their accomplishments of 2009.
The semifinals and finals of the NCAA Division III women's
tournament this spring will be held on the familiar turf of
Gettysburg's Clark Field.
Having everything line up so perfectly usually sets off internal
alarms for coaches and players alike. All coaches are seemingly
obligated to never look beyond the next game — or at least
admit to it — and their players typically fall in line. The
Bullets, however, are eschewing the standard policy, almost going
so far as to embrace the expectations.
"If that's your motivation, if that's what's going to fuel you to
get in the weight room when no one's watching or run that sprint to
your highest potential every single rep, then acknowledge it and
let it be your mantra," said Cantele. "Our players want to be
playing on Clark Field in May. I'm OK if they want to keep it on
the forefront of their mind, as long as they know the increments
necessary to get us there and don't lose sight of that. If that's
the motivation they're going to use, so be it."
"Getting to the championship game has always been in the back of
our heads, but I think a little bit more this year," admitted
Hearn. "If we're going to be hosting, we want to be the ones
playing."
Submitting an application has been part of a longstanding goal by
the college to host a national championship. Gettysburg has
proffered bids for soccer in the past, but usually the academic
schedule eliminated the possibility of hosting a lacrosse final
four due to conflicts with exams. This year, however, the late
calendar opened the door. Next year's calendar also allows for
Gettysburg to host the semifinals and finals. The application was
due in January, and at press time the athletic department was
unsure of its intentions.
The obvious pitfall facing the Bullets is withstanding the pressure
of reaching these lofty goals. Playing in the national semifinal
and final games on their own campus is a dream scenario, but those
contests would be numbers 23 and 24 on the Gettysburg schedule.
Each game closer to those last two pushes the barometer higher and
higher for the Bullets.
Can they handle it?
"I think it may add a little bit of pressure, but I'm not sure
that's a bad thing," said Hearn. "It may just be motivation for us.
We're coming back with a very strong team, almost the exact same
team we had last year, so all we have to do is build upon
that."
The construction has already started. Cantele said she has a large
freshman class, which, due to the loss of only one player, will
balloon her roster from 24 players to 33. Some of upperclassmen
will be pushed for playing time, but most of the youngsters will
assume an apprenticeship role.
Those new players will undoubtedly find their eyes wandering to the
end of the Bullets' schedule, where the big payoff lies. While the
possibility of playing at home for a national championship is a
fact the players and staff are aware of, it's not something brought
up in everyday conversation.
"You can bet it's something that we all know is right there," said
Cantele. "It's the elephant in the room."
It's a big elephant, but one that's ready to be mounted on the
trophy wall by a group of well-placed Bullets.
This story appeared in the March issue of Lacrosse
Magazine.
