Coming to an end

We always end the year with a team dinner and gifts are given, awards are received and the end of the year highlights DVD is shown! This year we went to Coach Bliss's house to grill out and get everyone together one last time before the school year was over. It was an absolute blast, however it wouldn't be right if we didn't have our usual mishaps.

Senior Gifts!

We thought that grilling out would be a great idea so the seniors brought over our grill from our house. Within the first three minutes of grilling the propane tank ran out, so no problem we would go get another one. Well, that didn't work either and we ended up having to grill the hamburgers and hot dogs on the stove. They were still devoured within minutes and everyone was very happy with their meal. After that we did our traditional t-shirt exchange. Everyone on the team is given a girl who they must give one of their t-shirts to for a specific reason. It can be because it reminds you of her or because you love that t-shirt, it's for whatever reason. Some good ones were given out including a neon green t-shirt with a mullet on it. I  have to say I was a little bit jealous of that one.

Kate Keim receiving her award

Ellen and Emily rapping our thank you to our trainer Ryan

Once dinner and the t-shirt exchange was done it was time for gifts! Everyone received a keychain with a picture of the team on it. The freshman get their varsity letter with a lacrosse stick pin, the sophomores and juniors received their bar pin for their year of playing and the seniors were given special gifts. We got a blanket from the school and really cute picture frame from the coaches and team. Then awards were given out for Most Valuable Attacker, Defender, Most Improved and Unsung Hero. Most Valuable Attacker  was given to Paige, a sophomore. Unsung Hero was given to Emily Harman, a senior. Most Improved was given to Kate Keim. Most Valuable Defender was given to Erin McDonnell, a senior. After all of this the highly anticipated season highlights DVD was shown! Hilarious pictures, action shots and group pictures are shown of us throughout the season. It was absolutely hilarious and there was a ton of laughter when it was shown. Everyone had a really fun awesome time and the seniors were really sad to go knowing they won't be back next year.

Four years on the hill....

               The four years that I have spent here at McDaniel College have been some of the best years of my life. The friendships that I have formed with so many people are ones that I will cherish and never forget. I came in as a really somewhat shy freshman, though that is not at all who I am, from the start my team welcomed me right in and I was able to come out of my shell fairly quickly. You wouldn’t think that seniors become very close with their freshman, but I still keep in touch with those seniors from my first year and they’re great friends of mine. This team becomes an instant set of best friends and they will always have your back and best interest at heart no matter what.
           I have learned so much about myself as a person on and off the lacrosse field. I was taught to be independent, take risks, voice your opinion, make up for your mistakes, work hard when you want something and never give up when reaching for your goals. Those translated off the field into my classes. Though the education minor is not a light load I think that I received the best education that I could. My professors were there for me at all hours of the day and completely understood that I was an athlete. They only wanted to see me succeed and gave me their best advice through four years.             Most of the best friends that I have, I met here at McDaniel and I know for a fact that I will not lose touch with any of them as I graduate. Not only are they on the team, but also they are from classes and even in my sorority. As a D3 athlete I was able to join a sorority on campus and take an executive position to help lead the sorority. The other four seniors have been my roommates for the  past two years and are the best friends that I could have ever asked for. These people mean so much to me, and I literally cannot begin to count the number of hysterically fun times that we have had.              I wouldn’t take back a single minute of my time here at McDaniel and I would recommend this college to any person who ever asked. There are so many different things to do on campus that absolutely everyone finds a niche here. I’m extremely happy this college was recommended to me because I have had the best college experience.

Senior Year Team 

Junior Year Team

Sophomore Year Team 

Freshman Year Team 

Tailgates!

                   Tailgates could quite possibly be one of my favorite things that happen during season. They take place after every weekend home game that we have and occasionally during the week and some away games. This is when it shows just how close we crucial and important they are to us. There are team moms from each class that organize what food is being brought and by whom. Every family contributes something and once it’s all set up...it’s a free for all! The food is always delicious and the team moms do a phenomenal job of organizing everything.

                     This is the time where our families get to mingle with everyone. It’s great when the out of town families travel all the way to Westminster for a game and then have a little bit of down time after a game to meet everyone and put names and numbers to faces. This, in my opinion, is where the Green Terror family really is formed. Families and friends and the support from them is something that is so important to the team and we could not get through a season without it. So having these tailgates is just a way to say thank you and get together with everyone as often as we can. I can honestly say that the tailgates are something that I am really, really, really going to miss.

What can happen at tailgates...Coach Mattson in the blue, myself on the right. 

Bliss and Mattson

               Our head coach Muffie Bliss has been at McDaniel for going on her tenth season. Meagan Mattson has assisted her for going on five seasons. These two bring a sense of discipline and fun into a team that creates a family like atmosphere for all of the girls. Coach Bliss is like the mother and coach to everyone, she really has a personality that shows she would do and give anything for her players and that is a vital characteristic that a coach needs to have. She knows when to get down to business and get the job done, but without laughter and fun she knows that it will be lost on her team. Her patience is never ending and the only thing she wants to do is to teach and watch her players succeed. She loves to win and as a player you want your coach to have that passion and not be satisfied with losses. Coach Bliss is also very honest and true to who she is as a coach. She will tell you if you’re doing something wrong or need to improve in a certain area, but on the flipside of that she will also let you know when you have done things right and have contributed in a positive way. She is a fair coach in that playing time is earned at practice and if you earn that playing time she will give it to you. That can be from a freshman point of view and all the way up to a senior spot. 

Nichols, Bliss and me right before a game!

             Coach Mattson is the assistant coach, she played lacrosse for four years and soccer for two years at McDaniel and that gives her an insight into each player’s head each year as they progress. She is a fun coach who expects her players to bring their game to everyday. Like Coach Bliss she also knows that as a team you can progress or learn without having fun and she definitely adds that humor to each day. Having gone to McDaniel she knows how the classes are and how schedules conflict and your day can be completely busy from start to finish. She also knows the type of team that is run so it makes her very relatable and very easy to talk to. You can be very honest with her, but you also have to expect that honesty back because she will give it to you. She will tell you exactly what you need to fix, why and when in games that changing your area for growth will help you. She also is a P.E. teacher at a Carroll County Middle School so teaching new things to players is just second nature for her. She sees everyone on an even playing field on the team, just as Coach Bliss does.

Mattson teaching Rachel a play

              While they both are very much alike in their coaching style they also have evident differences, which makes our team have the best of both worlds. They will do anything they can for the girls on this team and have helped make me into the lacrosse player I am. I can honestly say being coached by these two my past four years at McDaniel College I couldn’t have asked for anyone better!  

 

During a freezing night practice!

From Start to Finish...

April 16^th, the forecast was to be pouring rain all day right through our game….and of course it was senior day! Our locker room was decked out and we received really sweet and cute gifts. It was a complete surprise and we were not allowed to know about anything. The game was versus Ursinus, who was 3^rd in the conference, and our team was ready to go. Everyone could feel that today was the day that we would go out and win. We had a “nothing to lose” attitude and I don’t think we were ever as ready as we were Saturday.

           

The seniors, #1 Lisa Jurd, #11 Emily Harman, #17 Lauren Vilkas, #20, and #13 me, each walked on the field with their family with a nice little blurb about us and a few inside jokes to go along with it. The rain surprisingly slowed down for about 20 minutes during the senior introduction. It was all so sweet, a few tears were shed, but the main feeling was excitement because we wanted to win that day. We’d worked so hard all season and many of the outcomes of the games we played didn’t necessarily show that, but today was our day.

             

Then it was game time! It felt like from the second the first whistle blew            the rain just began to pour…and it did not stop. It was a close game the entire time and each girl stepped up their own play to get the job done. Every single one of them played their role on the team to the best of their ability. With about 5 minutes left we were down by two. No one on the team began to panic; everyone stayed calm and made sure they just kept playing without chaos. We held them to no goals and scored two, the 60 minutes finished with a tie. Then it was onto a 6 minute overtime play, 3 minute halves. The first three minutes there were no goals made by either team. Then with around 35 seconds, in the second half of overtime, Paige Messersmith, a sophomore, scored the winning goal off of a free position. The defense then held the other team to no goals for the remainder of the game and…we won!! Celebrating was such a great feeling, and having overcome our obstacle on senior day was the best gift that we could have received. We have had a lot to overcome as a team this year and I think during this game we let go of everything and just played.

            Myself, and the rest of the seniors, couldn’t have been prouder of all of those girls more than that day. Everyone did a phenomenal job whether they were on the field, cheering on the sidelines or coaching…every single person contributed to that win. It was the best senior day that we could have asked for and we wouldn’t change a single thing about it…not even the rain.

Thank you girls for making it such a great senior day!!

*Photos courtesy of MG!*

Sticking Together

So we have not been having the best winning season a team could have, and being a senior that can be something very hard to accept. However, with this team it makes moving onto the next game and the next opponent that much easier. This team sticks together, picks each other up, never gives up and has not through this entire season. When you have a team like that it can be hard for me or even anyone else to get down on themselves or each other.

             I can honestly say, we go into each game taking what we’ve learned from the previous game, wanting a win and ready and willing to work our butts off in order to get that win. Our recent game versus Dickinson did not go our way, but the efforts that were put forward by every single person who went out on that field and even those who didn't were phenomenal. It was a very close game, back and forth the entire time. Towards the end Dickinson pulled away which gave them the win this time. 

            The way everyone comforts and picks each other up consistently is something that has never been as strong in the four years that I’ve played than this one. No one lets anyone dwell on what they did “wrong” or "could’ve done better" for long. This team really understands that we win as a team and we lose as a team. Our goal is for us to win out the rest of our season and I know for a fact that it is absolutely doable. Senior day is being celebrated this Saturday with a home game versus Ursinus. Check out the next post about that later in the weekend!

"Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost."

                                                                                                             -Helen Keller 

Our Champion!

This past Thursday was the annual Tournament of Champions that McDaniel hosts. We invite schools with special needs programs from all around the county to bring their students on campus for a day of fun, games, foods and medals. This year there were about 90 participants and just about the same amount of student athletes from McDaniel. Each athlete is matched up with a child with a special need and they are "buddies" for the day. Each McDaniel athlete wears a shirt, practice uniform, pinny, etc to represent their sport. In addition to being a buddy, you can also be in charge of the different stations. There is baseball, basketball shooting, bowling, bean bag toss, scooter races, lacrosse shooting, golf and so much more.

Our own Ellen Nicely graced the cover of the Carroll County Times with an adorable picture of her congratulating a participant on the bean bag toss. So cute!! Though, this was not her buddy, Ellen was running the bean bag toss station and took a liking to this little boy when he started to play. I saw him around all day and he was the cutest thing.

Ellen is a sophomore on the team and a two sport athlete, also playing soccer. She is actually wearing a soccer shirt in this picture, but I can get over that . She plays in a defensive midi position and has come up with some important caused turnovers already this season. She defines herself as just plain "awkward" which I think a lot of the team would agree with, but in the best and funniest way possible. She can make you laugh in an instant and you won't stop laughing for a while. She is a vital member of our team and everyone is very proud that she is the one representing McDaniel on the cover of Carroll County Newspaper! Congratulations Ellen!!

*Credit for the picture goes to the Carroll County Times*