Depth the key for women's lacrosse
by Chris Chan, Sports Editor

Last season, the women's lacrosse team fell short of the championship, losing in the semifinals. The loss hurt the team a lot, considering that the Badgers were one of the heavy favourites to go all the way. This year, many of the players from last year's squad are back - and none of them want anything more than making that final step and becoming champions.

Head coach Mike Accursi believes that this year's team looks better than last year's squad.
"Our strength is overall depth. Last year, we relied on certain players to do most of our scoring, but this year we have team depth -something a lot of the other teams don't have"

Les Maybury and Megan Ryan accounted for more than half of the Badger goals last year, and it put a lot of pressure on them to score and carry the load for the team, especially in the playoffs. This year, Accursi likes the look of a couple of rookies, such as Heather Stephens and Melissa Lackey.
"They will help out team," Accursi said. "We have a few new faces that will definitely make us a better team than last year".

Only one key player from last year is gone, defender Dawn Elliott. But she is back however as an assistant coach to Accursi.

Brock participated in the Early Bird Tournament held at McMaster on Saturday. The Badgers won all three of their games easily. In the first game, the Badgers beat up on Laurier 9-4, and then spanked the defending champions Queen's 9-5. They then defeated Guelph in the third game, proving once again that the women's lacrosse team will be strong this year.

"It looks like we're going to be one of the top two teams," Accursi said. "With a little bit of luck, we'll bring home the cup." The Badgers open the regular season at Western this Saturday.
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