On Wednesday, March 4, California Lutheran University’s women’s lacrosse team played their fourth game of the season in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference against the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens. The game resulted in a loss for the Regals at the William Rolland Stadium, ending with a score of 0-16.

“I think initially a lot of us were nervous. We didn’t even have any subs. This was the first time we played with no subs, so it was very nerve-racking at first,” junior goalkeeper Cameron Mendez said.

Going into Wednesday night’s game, players felt the pressure of playing against the Sagehens, as they sit at the number one seed in the conference, in comparison to the Regals who sit at the number seven seed.

Mendez said that regardless of the lack of players available for play, the Regals “knew [they] had to work together, switch positions and help each other out” as much as possible.

Although the Regals failed to score a goal during the game, they did manage to lead in the draw controls category with eight draw controls versus the Sagehen’s seven.

First-year midfield and defender Shelby Ingram put everything she had into contributing to offense and ended with having five out of the eight draw controls for the Regals.

“Just knowing that I wasn’t gonna get a break and knowing, okay if you get tired you’re gonna just have to push through it anyways and just work hard for everything,” Ingram said.

The purple and gold also racked up 10 clears, the most they have had so far this season. In the second half the Regals only allowed the Sagehens to score four goals, versus 12 in the first half.

“Our defense… was the best team defense we’ve played so far this season. We worked on help slides and keeping our feet moving and sticks big recently,” Head Coach Laura McIntyre said.

McIntyre said the team is planning to continue improving their communication with one another on the field, as well as their transitions.

Although this game marks the fourth straight loss for the Regals, the team is taking the loss with a grain of salt, as they feel that this is the best game that they have played.

“We’ve seen a ton of improvements from game one to last night. I’m super proud of all of the progress that we’ve made as a unit. The biggest positive changes we’ve been able to see have come on our defensive end of the field,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre said that there has been an improvement in the team’s ability to communicate with one another, along with their footwork and slides throughout the past few games.

Mendez also recognized the team’s improvement over the season.

“I believe we did a complete 180 and we’re continuing to succeed in our play. We learn a lot of new things at practice and we’re putting it obviously on the field,” Mendez said. “I think a lot of us have learned to trust each other as well because a lot of us are new and a lot of us have also played before, so there is a lot of trust that we’ve built with each other.”

Ingram said that the team is working on “balancing the new players with the experienced players and not getting frustrated with each other,” regardless if players are new or not.

Looking ahead, the Regals travel to play Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Wednesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. where they hope to win their first game of the season.