SALEM, Va. – The Washington and Lee women are preparing for the NCAA Division III lacrosse final four in Salem this weekend. For the 19-1 Generals, this is the pinnacle after a long stretch of ODAC conference excellence. The Generals have been to eight straight NCAA tournaments, and they made it a goal to reach the final four after losing in the first round last year.
But they admit it has been a long week. The team is coming off a hard-fought overtime win against William Smith. Then they weathered the stress and emotion of graduation on Thursday. The Generals say it's all about sticking to their motto, which is "Prove it".
"All year,we've been saying we want to make it to the final four, we want to be ranked No. 1 in the nation and we want to win our conference. It's really easy to say those things but 'prove it' is all about putting the work in, putting in the time to actually back up those goals that we have," said Olivia Sisson, Generals senior midfielder.
"I think the team is just so excited to finally be here and it's unbelievable that we've gotten here. But we put in a lot of hard work this season and I think it's finally paid off, "said Hayley Soutter, Generals attacker.
"I think our team showed that we've done the work to be prepared and to be confident and we weren't going to let things that we couldn't control prevent us from reaching our goals," said Brooke O'Brien, Generals coach.
The Generals will face the College of New Jersey on Saturday at noon at Kerr stadium at Roanoke College in Salem.