UPIKE welcomes first-ever women’s lacrosse team
0Written by Aleshia Sykes
For the first time in 125 years, UPIKE welcomes a women’s lacrosse team to the field. It’s the first lacrosse team in Eastern Kentucky.
Lacrosse is a team sport founded by the Native American Irquois. It is played with a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick. Each team is allowed 12 players on the field at a time.
Malorie Stockwell, head coach, is from Syracuse, N.Y., where she taught at an inner city school. She said that the school days were terrible and seemed to last forever, but she got through them just because after school she coached a group of girls and taught them how to play the sport that she loved.
In December 2013, Stockwell applied for the head coaching position at UPIKE. Since she lived 16 hours away at the time, she interviewed on the phone and via Skype. Stockwell finally drove to Pikeville to have her face-to-face interview, which happened to be the night of the UPIKE staff Christmas party. Three days later, Stockwell got the call and was offered the position.
“They did not tell me a definite answer at the end of the interview, but I had a very good feeling about it,” Stockwell said. They ended the interview with, “I’ll be seeing you soon,” which gave Stockwell the impression that she would be the new head coach of the UPIKE Women’s Lacrosse team.
Once Stockwell arrived in Pikeville, she was told that there were only a few girls on campus that had a history of playing lacrosse. At that moment, she knew that she would have to start recruiting. Within 11 weeks, Stockwell attended 11 different tournaments and put 25,000-30,000 miles on her car.
“It was not about coming to this school for me. It was about the girls that I was about to teach,” Stockwell said.
After she returned from her recruiting trip, she contacted three players that she knew she wanted on her team.
“I was panicked. It was hard to sell the City of Pikeville and the school to these girls when I had only lived here for around five months,” Stockwell said.
During the month of May, the three women, Kelsey Watson, Rebecca Abbott, and Casey Poteet, signed to play their college career at UPIKE.
“I decided to come to UPIKE because our coach is phenomenal, and I had a connection with her outside of lacrosse,” Watson, freshman mid-fielder, said.
During the 2014 spring semester, Stockwell sent out a mass e-mail inviting athletes and non-athletes to join her to talk about becoming part of the first team. Stockwell then added 10 new girls, including Mandi Hord, former soccer player, and Amanda Hodge, former volleyball player.
“Lacrosse is my one true love. No matter what happens in life, I know that I will always be able to rely on lacrosse,” Stockwell said.
The women’s lacrosse team opens its season on Feb. 21 at Bob Amos sporting complex where they will take on Columbia, S.C.