Club sports teams’ seasons are ramping up this fall, with programs hoping to maintain the level of success they reached last year while also welcoming fresh faces. The equestrian team, women’s club lacrosse team and crew team are only beginning their seasons, but all have reasons to be excited for the rest of the year.
Equestrian:
The start of the 2023-24 season has been encouraging for the equestrian team. The Leopards have shown at three competitions this year, and while the team did not necessarily post the scores it may have hoped for, club president Anna Paulsen ’24 is focusing on the positives.
“We’d like to be doing better, but that shouldn’t damper the successes we’ve had,” Paulsen said. “We’ve had a lot of individual success this season, especially from the freshman class.”
The team has placed first in the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association competition for its region for the last two years, a mark that Paulsen is hoping the team can reach again despite the competition growing stronger.
“This year it’s a very different game,” Paulsen said. “It’s definitely still an attainable goal to become champions again, but we’re going to need to be more committed and willing to make harder decisions.”
Women’s lacrosse:
The women’s lacrosse team is looking to continue the success of its last season, which saw the team qualify for the Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Organization National Championships. According to club secretary and sophomore midfielder Maddie Cannon ’26, the team is well on its way to reaching the same heights this year.
“Our club is developing better than I could’ve ever imagined last year,” Cannon said. “We’re picking up right where we left off.”
Despite a season-opening two-goal loss to TCNJ on Sunday, Cannon believes the team’s spirit is unaffected.
“It was a good game for everyone to get their foot in the door and get a sense of how we do things,” Cannon said. “Everyone left the game smiling.”
The club is also showing its newfound commitment to getting involved beyond the lacrosse field. The team has partnered with Morgan’s Message this year — a nonprofit organization that focuses on de-stigmatizing mental health in the student-athlete community.
“We had people coming to us with a passion to play lacrosse, but also with an interest to join the team as a way to get involved with something bigger than the game,” Cannon said. “Every member of the team wants to see the club in a good place and is giving all they can to get it there.”
Crew:
The crew team had an exceptional season last year with consistently strong performances across a number of regattas that saw a number of boats secure wins against several high-profile programs. The team is hoping to build off that success this year while also welcoming and training new members to secure the team’s future.
“We are mainly focused on team development this fall,” club president Kendall Lamm ’24 said. “We had a bunch of people come in with prior experience, but also people with no experience at all. We love that because we’re always asking, ‘Who can we get involved?’”
The team competed in the Navy Day regatta in Philadelphia last weekend, where boats posted results that encouraged Lamm and the rest of the team. Lafayette’s ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams placed 9th and 12th, respectively, in the Men’s Collegiate 4+ in a field of 16 teams, while the women placed 26th and 30th in a field of 36 teams in the same event.
