Allie Armour: alarmour@ursinus.edu & Ava Compagnoni avcompagnoni@ursinus.edu
With the spring season of athletics kicking into gear, nine sports have begun practicing for upcoming competitions, some sooner than others. Let’s hear Ursinus athletes reflect on how their first weeks have gone and what they expect from the rest of the season!
Senior Captain of the Women’s Lacrosse Team, Emma Wood, commends her team for being “versatile,” and believes “the extremely talented freshmen are already making a huge impact on the program.” She recognizes the work that the team has put in on and off the field, and knows that they will continue to surpass their team mantra and Raise The Bar. We hope to see them shake up the Centennial Conference in the weeks to come. Nine new freshmen will be making their season debuts this spring.
Meanwhile, the Ursinus Men’s & Women’s Tennis Teams gear up to face tough competition at the USTA National Center in Orlando, Florida over spring break. With about 30 days of practice left and no matches until the first week of March, it will certainly be interesting to see the results of their work. Shannon Stewart, a sophomore on the women’s team, says, “I am so confident in our freshmen on the team, they really pulled through in the fall when we needed them. With three collegiate matches thrown at them, they clinched some amazing matches for us to help win. They will have that same grit when we start matches in March.” Last fall season, freshman Bella Vassalluzzo clinched a match against York College for an overall 5-4 win. Junior men’s captain Darby Rogers sees the work ethic his team has been putting in on the tennis courts. “Everyone is looking pretty sharp and is working tremendously hard in the last week alone. We plan to increase that in- tensity as we get closer to spring break. We have been getting into our grooves individ- ually and as a team,” says Rogers.
Ursinus Softball and Baseball begin competition in just a couple of weeks. Softball’s first game will take place on the Snell Softball Field at home on February 25th at 1:00 P.M against Stevens. Senior player and ace Alexis Miller is ecstatic to start her senior season after last year’s success. “I think our first week practicing together was great! We have been working really hard on and off the field, everyone adjusted to practicing in the Bakes very well too. Our coaches are pushing us to be the best, especially with the first game being so soon,” says Miller. Almost ten days prior to softball’s home opener, baseball will head to Washington and Lee University on February 18th to kick things off. With new leadership heading into the spring season, Tom Pancheri sees how hard the guys are adjusting to the new coach. “The first two weeks have gone well in my opinion, the guys are rallying behind the new coach and each other, despite the obvious adversity we are facing. I expect us to surprise a lot of teams now that we have more experience playing a full schedule,” says Pancheri.
It is clear that all of these athletes are confident in their teams and excited for what is to come for the rest of their spring seasons!