Continuous effort and hard work has led the 2019 St. Thomas women’s club lacrosse team to success.

The team will take their undefeated 12-0 record to the Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Associates National Championships May 8-11 in Virginia.

This will be the program’s fifth straight appearance at nationals.

“I think this is the first year we truly believe we belong there and can take it all the way,” senior captain Sydney Liebl said.

The team hopes to carry that winning mentality deep into the national tournament, especially coming off the NCWLL Championship title win after defeating UW-Lacrosse and Iowa State during playoffs in mid-April.

The last two seasons of unbeaten records and trips to the nationals have been oddly similar for women’s lacrosse.

The program returned the same exact lineup, adding just a few first-year students to the roster.

The combination of fresh new talent and the leadership of older players has made this group unstoppable.

“This has really helped us play as a cohesive unit because it’s our second year all together, so we know how everyone plays and acts on the field,” senior defenseman and captain Lilly Effertz said.

Countless hours practicing at McCarthy Gym and traveling to numerous tournaments in the Midwest has prepared this team for competition.

The No. 3 seeded Tommies will face No. 6 Navy in the first round of pool play at the WCLA National Championships on May 9.

No matter what the seed, the girls believe they can compete with anyone.

“We trust each other’s skills and flow together as a team on the field,” senior club president and captain Catie Eisenreich said. “The trust we have in each other’s ability is probably what sets us apart from other teams.”

At the beginning of the season, the women’s lacrosse program made some goals—to have a killer season, rank the highest they’ve ever been, and to make it to nationals.

With those goals checked off the list, all that is left is to win a national title.

“Every single person on this team wants to be successful and wants their teammate to be successful,” Liebl said. “We have the mentality that we can go all the way.”

Hardwork and dedication is something this program doesn’t take for granted on or off the field, given every girl pays to play on the team, pays for travel on weekends and sacrifices their time.

“I think that is something that is really special about club sports, because we put so much into it, that the want to succeed is so much higher since we have all put a lot on the line to be here,” Effertz said.

Winning is the goal on each of the team member’s minds, but at the end of the day women’s club lacrosse is simply trying to make name for themselves and represent Minnesota well.

“Minnesota isn’t typically known for having great programs, so it feels really great when we come out strong, and show everyone that we deserve to be ranked so high, and that we have put in the work necessary,” Effertz said.

Carly Noble can be reached at nobl1781@stthomas.edu