When students went home on March 13 for spring break, nobody expected to spend the rest of their semester off campus, especially athletes who still had numerous games scheduled. The lacrosse team was one of several spring season teams that had more than half its games cancelled.
Team Captains Sara McGuire and Bianca Tedesco were “devastated” upon hearing the news that the remainder of their spring 2020 season was cancelled. Both players suffered from injuries the season prior, so having only played seven games, they felt there was “a lot of unfinished business.”
“I put the situation into perspective and knew that there were a lot worse things going on in our country than our lacrosse season being cut short and needed to be grateful for my health, team and family,” McGuire, a Sport Management major minoring in Coaching and Legal Studies, said.
Both McGuire and Tedesco said they spent their time at home working out and exploring new hobbies like baking and reading. Going back home to south Florida, Tedesco thoroughly enjoyed keeping herself busy while living next to the beach.
“I was able to spend a lot of time with my brothers and my parents that I wouldn’t have normally gotten if I was at school,” Tedesco, a Human Nutrition major minoring in Coaching, said.
Although heartbreaking, the unexpected ending to the lacrosse season allowed the team (which had no seniors) to recuperate and better prepare for the 2021 season.
“We had a very tough start in 2020 and were very low in number and injury stricken and struggled to merely field a healthy team,” Head Coach Julika Blankenship said. “We were a very young team playing primarily freshmen and sophomores.”
In 2016, Blankenship was introduced as the second head lacrosse coach in Winthrop history. Beginning her journey as a DI assistant coach, Blankenship has since “climbed the ladder,” serving as a DIII assistant, DIII head coach, DII head coach, and finally her current position as DI head coach.
“Winthrop had a solid reputation as a successful new program and since then many more new programs have been added in the South which we compete with constantly. I love the new growth of lacrosse in the Carolinas,” Blankenship said.
This season’s roster of 38 players remains a very young team as it includes 17 freshmen.
“During the recruiting process, we look for players with a specific skill set [and] players that have a large growth curve and visibly have far from reached their best level of play. We also look for players that we know will excel under my coaching style,” Blankenship said.
Emmie Foxall, a freshman exercise science major from Wilmington, NC, is one of the new midfielders and defenders for the Eagles.
“I chose to play at Winthrop because I loved the campus and its size, and I also loved the family atmosphere from the team and the coaches are amazing,” Foxall said.
Like Foxall, freshman Katie Witmer is a midfielder from Wilmington. As an undeclared student, Witmer is taking a variety of classes to find the perfect major, and in the meantime is “looking forward to competing at the highest level of lacrosse.”
Interior design major Grayson Mckenzie is a freshman from Queenstown, a tiny town located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
“One of the main factors regarding my decision to play lacrosse at Winthrop was Coach Blankenship. I love her coaching mentality as well as the personal connections she makes with each of her players. Winthrop felt like home.” Mckenzie said.
Having a huge roster will prove very beneficial for this upcoming season as it will allow the team to continuously practice full-field concepts.
“We also are not forcing players to play every rep at practice which will save their bodies and prevent further injury,” Blankenship said.
Being one of seventeen incoming freshmen can be intimidating, as players are not only introduced to new friends, but also to new competition.
“I believe this will make not only myself a harder worker but the team as a whole as well,” Mckenzie said.
“We compete against each other at practice but at the end of the day we are all best friends,” Foxall said.
The returning players like McGuire and Tedesco are excited to have so many freshmen on the team.
“The freshman class has been awesome thus far,” McGuire said. “They all have brought a lot of excitement and love for the game which has been great, and having so many young and healthy bodies has helped a lot in practice.”
As of now, the team is only allowed to train eight hours a week, opposed to the typical twenty hours. Of those eight hours, the team can only practice lacrosse specific skills for four hours per week.
“They know that sacrifices must be made in order to have a season and to play, which is what we all want to do. I can not say this has been easy on them or on me, but we are doing our very best,” Blankenship said.
The Eagles are preparing as if their 2021 season is not a question and keeping themselves motivated to play in the Conference Championship.
“We know we are able to get better each day and if we settle for anything less… we are doing our program a disservice,” Blankenship said.
“My goal this season is to play every game and practice like it’s my last because I won’t get many more opportunities. I want to win and have fun doing it one last time,” Tedesco said.
Photo courtesy of Tim Cowie
