 Welcome to the Kathy Rayleigh show. I'm Joe Wombo joined now with Kathy Rayleigh head coach of the women's lacrosse team Coach you guys open up conference play hosting Messiah. Was it an advantage or a disadvantage starting out with Messiah? We I thought it would be an advantage for us to play them now Hoping that our tough schedule leading up to our opening conference game Would give us a leg up the issue is that Messiah also plays a tough schedule You know, they're packed full of seniors and upperclassmen and I think that our freshmen weren't just quite ready yet to come up with the win on that It's in a way It can be an advantage too because they're going to underestimate us in April. You guys did hold the lead I mean at one point and sure there is just playing Messiah that they're gonna do what Messiah does But what is it the things that you guys need to work on to be able to hold that lead as you play more conference opponents? Two things I think the first thing is 50-50 balls When we dropped a ball Messiah picked it up when Messiah dropped a ball Messiah picked it up You can't have those numbers like that. You have to win the 50-50 contest all over the field We weren't doing a good job of that. We were really tentative on ground balls Messiah is fast We're gonna have to be faster come come conference tournament play the second thing is the clear We tried something a little bit different in the clear and and I don't think it worked as well as what we're naturally good at So I think we'll make some tweaks there and I think that will help We played a brand new defense that we have not played prior to two days two or three days before we saw Messiah And I thought we did a good job holding them We got scored on it and transition a little bit which we're gonna have to tweak as well One impactful player that you had on the field on Saturday Mac Ferguson Absolutely 16 saves how big has she been for your guys teams this far? Well, you know, she's not playing like a freshman anymore and that's that's the biggest thing She her consistency has gotten better game after game She would kind of fade in and out in those early games of when she was paying attention and when she's not now She's into it and and I think her success leading up to this point has made her really focus in She wants to be an all-american. We've had this discussion we've talked about what she needs to do to be an all-american and She has the tools if she puts the work in I think we're gonna see amazing things out of her in the years to come I would argue that she was done playing as a freshman after five minutes in the Gettysburg game She came up with some pretty big saves there against a strong team She did now as you guys move this week into playing two conference opponents one away And then you guys host our Katie on Saturday What how important is it to go to be to get back on to you know the winning ways to work? Well, I think this is important. We're gonna have to run the table now We the loss to Montclair the loss to skidmore Those are losses that are gonna keep us out of the tournament unless we win the conference We can handle a loss to Gettysburg. We can handle a loss to Salisbury We cannot handle the loss to those those schools that are mid-range like we are so Our only shot at going to the tournament now is to win the conference So as we head through cons conference play we want to set ourselves up in the best position To hopefully see Messiah in the championship. I'm not gonna count my chickens before their hatch But if we do things the right way and take everybody very seriously be very disciplined game after game I think we've got a really good shot at doing that You know, we had practice this morning in the pouring down rain as you can see from my still soaking wet hair and We had an awesome practice after being kind of lit up on Saturday and To come in at five o'clock on a Sunday morning. I mean on Monday morning and to practice like we did today We have the goods to get it done. Yeah leads to some optimism and it has been done And it can be done again and you guys have a distinct possibility of winning out I I hope so and the girls are willing to work for it So I'm gonna do my part and see if I can't get him prepared enough. Yeah, the girls willingness is what's gonna get it done Sure does there. It's a great group of girls It really is I'm having more fun coaching this year than I've had in the last couple years of these this that the energy Is just exactly what a coach wants it to be well coach We wish you the best of luck this week and thank you for your time and good luck in achieving those goals Thanks. She's Kathy Rayleigh. I'm Joe Wamba and this has been the Kathy Rayleigh show