MARQUETTE, Mich. - Ticking down to the final days before the first Women's Lacrosse games of 2023, we were able to sit down with a few of the student-athletes about the upcoming season. 

Attacker Taylor Priestley is going into her second season with a motivated mindset. After making 15 appearances in her first season, she racked up nine goals and placed seventh on the team. "There are a lot of people stepping into new roles this year. A lot of young athletes, and [Coach] LeMay [Majkrzak] has brought the level up, and she has higher expectations. Everyone is extremely motivated to have a good year and to do everything we can to play the best we can," said Priestly. 

Another word used to describe the feelings about this season was positivity. Captain Minnie Bittell used this when referring to the incredible, new talent that has been added to the team. She also mentioned that this season we should expect to see, "a lot of new goal scorers and a lot of great team plays because, speaking as an attacker, I feel like this year we've really lifted each other up as players, as people, and as women most importantly. We're really helping each other grow in our specific skills and we're really learning how to use each other."
Maddi Bast, a Sophomore Midfielder, expressed that her teammates are her inspiration on the field. "There are days you really don't want to be here. You really don't want to come, but you have to show up and keep yourself accountable, keep your teammates accountable. That's really something we've emphasized this year, being a good teammate, doing the right thing," said Bast. 

Some of those women who help inspire and motivate Bast include Priestley, Dayna Carlson, and Bittell. Despite the two-year age difference, Bast and Bittell played on a club team in high school together, which led to the latter becoming one of her inspirations. "I always looked up to her. She didn't really know who I was, but I knew who she was. I would see her doing cool stuff on the field and I was like, I want to do that. And then I came here, and now I'm with her. That's really inspiring and motivating that I worked hard enough to get to where she was too," said Bast.

When overcoming a tough loss, one of the wisest choices an athlete can make is to look toward the positive. Bittell's mamba mentality is provided by NBA star Kobe Bryant. Bryant created this idea that you should be the best version of yourself constantly. "A lot of times that's all you can control is how you react to situations and how you face things. And I think that you controlling your own game and then uplifting the people around you," Bittell said. "It's not an individual. It's not one person's fault that a team loses. It's a team thing. You guys are all there everyday with each other every day at 7 a.m. It's reconnecting."  

Bast also noted how she is determined to overcome the fear of playing against other strong teams in the conference. "I think we need to just get rid of that mentality, and overcome the fear of playing against some of these really good teams. We have great players and great skills, and we're all athletic enough to overcome and like to beat them. We just -- we're scared and we panic," said Bast.

With this new season, comes some new changes to the team. One was incorporating film time more into the schedule. Priestley mentioned how Coach (LeMay) Majkrzak was persistent on this matter due to the fact that the team is filled with mostly visual learners. "It's been helping a lot to watch yourself from the day before, like, oh, I need to dodge earlier or I need to close off on that attacker faster. It just helps with our spatial awareness, keeping each other accountable every day and trying to grow every practice," Priestly said. 

Along with taking accountability, the team is big on maintaining composure when it comes to scrappy teams. Priestley noted how in past games they have tried to match another team's scrappiness. This season, the team seems to have the goal of staying classy and making sure Northern isn't viewed as a "dirty team".

You can catch the first games of the Women's Lacrosse season on Saturday at 5pm and Monday at 12pm in the Superior Dome. Saturday's game is against Missouri Western State while Monday's game is against Concordia-Ann Arbor.