Women’s Lacrosse: Can the Golden Hawks get back to the OUA final after an 8-year drought?

After reeling off of five consecutive wins to open up the 2018 season, the women’s lacrosse team was handed their first defeat of the year to Western on Sunday morning.

In game one of the weekend action, the Hawks fell behind early to the Mustangs, who held a 2-2 record coming into the game.

Despite Laurier being heavy favorites, Western was able to limit the Golden Hawk offence to a season low eight goals, on route to the win.

Hungry for a strong come-back performance after seeing their undefeated run come to an end, Laurier dominated Brock in game two of the weekend, picking up a 15-3 victory.

Overall, the Golden Hawks’ 6-1 record at the midway point in the season is the best start that the women have had since 2008, when the team posted a 12-0 regular season record.

Head coach Lynn Orth spoke about what factors have helped the team put together an extremely successful first half.

“We have a fair number of returning athletes who have progressed over the years and we got a good batch of first years.”

“[Overall], they get along as a team,” Orth mentioned. “So there is no discord in terms of the team, which is really helpful. They are very happy to be together.”

Orth, who is in her twentieth season of coaching the women’s lacrosse team, talked about the expectations for the team going forward.

“Your goal is always to win a championship. [We want] to build our skills and build our game throughout the season, so that when we get to OUA finals we are the best that we can be.”

During her tenure as coach, Orth has won eight OUA championships, cementing herself as one of the most well decorated coaches that Laurier has ever seen.

However, the last championship that the women’s team had was back in 2010, which was also the last year that the team reached an OUA final.

After a tough bronze medal loss to end last season, the Hawks are definitely eager to finish with a better result this year.

Holding second place in the province with six games left certainly puts Laurier in a position to finish as a top seed and make a run at the OUA title.