After nearly 20 years, Ursinus women’s lacrosse is finally starting the season on the right foot.
The team is now 3-0 to start the season for the first time since 2007 after a dominant 16-5 win over Stevenson University – a team they lost to 15-6 at the same time last year. The Bears’ two other wins came in similar fashion, powering through Moravian 14-4 in their season opener, and dominating against Neuman, winning 15-7.
With this recent victory, the ladies have now put themselves in a very different situation compared to seasons prior. It’s come as a huge morale boost for this group, according to the players.
“I think everyone has really high hopes [for the season] after winning a game like we did on Saturday [versus Stevenson] the way that we did,” said junior forward Whitney Hershey. “It just has us even more excited and more confident.”
Hershey had 3 goals in the team’s win against Steveson and is currently one of the top goal scorers for the Bears.
Midfielder Meghan Vizian ‘26, a leader on both offense and defense, also expressed her excitement on the win.
“I think we’re looking way stronger than we did at the start of last year,” said Vizian. “I think going into Rowan on Wednesday, our win was huge to set up our whole week, so I’m definitely excited.”
Both Hershey and Vizian attribute a lot of their success in these three games to the team’s chemistry.
“I think just working together, like [for] defense, we just have worked in sync, like we’re ‘on a string’ as we call it,” said Vizian. I think on attack we were looking for the cut or the drive, and I think we really meshed.”
When asked if this is something the team expected to achieve, though, the responses varied.
“I think I knew we were capable of it,” said Hershey “It was just a matter of if we were actually going to be able to do it…like are we going to do it in the moment and keep the energy and the chemistry up.”
Vizian had a more direct answer.
“Honestly no, I didn’t expect it,” she said. I’ve been here for four years, and we haven’t ever gone 3-0, I don’t think we’ve gone 2-0…so I think this is a huge confidence boost for us.”
Vizian is not wrong in her assessment. The team has failed to achieve a 2-0 record in the previous three seasons, in fact, they haven’t gone 2-0 in eight seasons, stretching all the way back to 2017.
“This season definitely feels different [than last year],” said Vizian. “We all want it so badly and I think you can tell when we are out on that field, even the people on the bench the energy is just there.”
She pointed to the team’s upcoming difficult schedule as a key test of those positive feelings, however.
“I think this [start] gives us the confidence to keep going on this streak of winning,” Vizian said. “We’re very confident and we just want to keep that going.”
The Bears will certainly need this energy, facing ranked teams and conference opponents over the next few weeks. But if any Ursinus team can break that streak, this might be a good one to bet on.