The Queen’s women’s lacrosse team went undefeated in five games at the annual Early Bird exhibition tournament at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus this past weekend.
Teams play a series of five games against one another with no elimination rounds. The Gaels’ biggest win came over the Michigan State Spartans.
“Beating Michigan State was huge for our confidence,” head coach Brendan Sweeney said, adding, “I think that it’s the first time that a Canadian university has beaten an American university at lacrosse.” The Gaels won 6-3.
Going up against the Spartans the Gaels used tight defence to win the game, Sweeney said.
“Our team defence played really well, though it was more of a conservative approach,” he said. “But I guess it worked out well in that game.”
Sweeney also said that this year the Gaels are more balanced and faster than previous seasons. They used this to their advantage to beat the Spartans, he said.
“We outran and outworked [the Spartans]. We had great speed in the midfield and made them play up to us.”
Sweeney said that his veteran players have taken a strong leadership role on the team to help develop the incoming rookies.
“We needed [our rookies] to come in and start performing right away,” Sweeney said, adding that the new players have been working hard and fitting in well with the rest of the team.
With a more balanced and faster squad, Sweeney said that the Gaels intend to keep this attitude throughout the season.
“We work hard and it’s our hard work and speed and our team play that will make people notice us this year, as opposed to relying on two or three big players as we have in the past,” he said. “In general, I’d like Queen’s to pay more attention to us.”
Sweeney has been coaching the Gaels since 2004, compiling a 14-4-2 record that includes an undefeated 2005 season. This Saturday the Gaels open their season against McMaster and Toronto at the North Field.
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