After an undefeated season, the Women’s Lacrosse team’s first defeat comes when they least wanted it, the gold medal game.
The Gaels took home silver in the OUA Championship they hosted on Tindall Field this weekend. The gold medal game was played against the Western Mustangs, who took home the gold. The final score was 9-6 for the Mustangs.
“Getting to the gold medal game, I think we did everything that we set out to do, we actually did the gameplan the way we wanted to,” Head Coach Mike Watson said after the game. “Obviously, just the way the game went, we couldn’t pull away as much as we kind of expected to.”
Despite a gold medal performance, Watson accredits the loss partially to the game the women were playing in their heads.
“Frustration got the better of us a little bit in the fourth and we could feel things were slipping,” he said. “It’s hard to climb back.”
Watson says the team will reflect during the offseason as they hope to return next year with a gold medal attitude and a better result.
Midfielder Abby Lee, ArtSci ’24, said the same thing happened in her second year, when the team went into the championship game undefeated, took the streak for granted, and ended up losing.
“It was a very humbling experience,” Lee said. “Not taking anything for granted was something I felt when the final buzzer went off in the final game.”
Despite the silver medal, Lee described a silver lining fostered by the opportunity to play in the OUA Championship at home.
“Personally, I had a ton of family and friends that were able to come and watch,” she said. “The atmosphere was something very special and unique and I think regardless of losing the last game, having home fans was something that helped push us to win the previous games in the tournament.”
Lee was named OUA Athlete of the Week. She has been recognized for her skill in previous years.
“That’s still, for me at least, swept under the rug because I’m still obviously upset we lost,” she said. “Yeah, I won those things individually, but as a team we still went through the hardship of losing.”
Though Lee will finish her undergrad this year, she’ll be returning to Queen’s Lacrosse while completing a Master’s program next fall.
“There’s definitely a sense of unfinished business,” Lee said. “The feeling of losing will always be in the back of my head.”
Tags
Abby Lee, Mike Watson, OUA championships, Silver Medal, western mustangs, Women's lacrosse
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