Winning weekend for women’s lacrosse

Queen’s women’s lacrosse team burst out of the gates this weekend opening their season with three straight wins in two days of competition.

The first game of the season was against McMaster and the Gaels won 11-2. Queen’s was up 6-1 at halftime with five different goal scorers.

“[The Mauraders] didn’t touch the ball until the 28th minute,” head coach Brendan Sweeney said.

The second game was against Toronto. They beat the Varsity Blues by a score of 14-7 and while it appears at first glance to have been a one-sided game, Toronto only trailed by two at halftime.

“Our defense wasn’t in the groove,” Sweeney said of the second game.

By the end of the match, however, Martha Ross, Laura Chambers and Faye Pang all recorded hat tricks. Toronto was held to only two goals in the second half.

Gaels’ midfielder Carly Heffernan said, “We really picked it up in the second half and used our speed to our advantage.” Heffernan also said the rookies really stepped up this weekend and the team gelled well as a whole.

She highlighted keeper Alexis Maddaloni’s performance.

“We owe her a lot. She played phenomenally,” she said

The Gaels closed out their weekend against McGill on Sunday with a convincing 11-2 victory. Sweeney described McGill as an improved team that was hungry to win. The Gaels, however, were up to the challenge and led 6-1 at halftime.

“This was our best executed game,” Sweeney said. “Our defense frustrated them. They couldn’t find gaps in our game.”

Faye Pang and Martha Ross also recorded their second hat tricks of the weekend in the McGill match.

The Gaels play their next league game on October 1 against Guelph and Brock in Montreal.