The Blugold lacrosse team won 30-8 against the Southwestern University Pirates on April 12. Lacrosse coach Michael Rhodovi said he hadn’t wanted the difference to be this great.

“I’m not proud of a 30-8 win … Goal differential, unfortunately, counts in playoffs,” Rhodovi said.

Goalie Alexandria Shea said the team initially had a lead of six but was made aware they should change this in a timeout with the coaches, as other teams had won with larger score differences.

The team went on to make a lead of 18-5 by halftime. They also had a streak of 10 and eight goals without the other team scoring. Midfielder Reegan Werner credited this lead to the overall skill of the team. 

This marks the team’s fourth win in a row and biggest lead since winning 27-2 against Augsburg University on April 5. 

Rhodovi said that today’s game was tough due to calls being made from opposing players crashing into each other. 

“It gets frustrating and you have to learn as an athlete to put yourself beyond that, take the penalty (and) put your head back in the game,” Rhodovi said. 

Rhodovi said the team could prevent this in the future by making sure they stop checking and stop playing body. He also said he noticed an area for improvement towards the end of the second quarter. 

“We were kind of just chasing the ball around, not really securing it at all… They called a timeout, and we used that timeout to our advantage. We reset everybody,” Rhodovi said. 

This game also marked the 100th point for third-year midfielder Devon Crews. Crews is the fifth Blugold lacrosse athlete to ever do this in their time at UW-Eau Claire and accomplished this by scoring six points during the game. 

Shea said she realized the moment Crews scored point 99 and made sure to make the team aware. 

“I was like ‘hey, this is going to be her 100’ so we’re all excited, she scores, and we gave her five big booms for that,” Shea said. 

After the game, Blugold athletes were greeted by defense player Capri Hanson’s father with banana bread. 

Shea said this is not the first time he has given the team banana bread, as he has done it three or four times previously. 

“Even after spring break, we got to the airport at MSP, like midnight or one in the morning, it was early, and he was there with banana bread for the team,” Shea said. 

Outside of the recent game, the sisters, Alexandria Shea and midfielder Victoria Shea, went on the “Rolling with the Golds” podcast on March 27, titled “Sister Act”.  

Victoria Shea said she loves playing with her sister and that because of their connection, they can have strong communication during games as her sister will be direct with her criticism.

Victoria Shea also said that most team communication isn’t as blunt between players since they give each other “compliment sandwiches.” 

For this most recent match, Victoria Shea gave herself a compliment sandwich, saying she needs to tuck in her stick but is glad she’s moving down the field. 

“(My sister’s) compliment sandwich would be ‘hey, really good save but you need to make your clears faster’ and I’ll always tell her that,” Victoria Shea said. 

Their next game is on April 14 against the College of Saint Benedict. Alexandria Shea said this will be a tougher match. 

To prepare for this match, Rhodovi said they will be reviewing footage of their last game against the Ravens. 

“We look for the matchups that we want, especially on the attack,” Rhodovi said, “We want the attackers to match up against the weaker defenseman.”

Curtin can be reached at [email protected].