More students are choosing to join club sports offered at VSU because they are able to focus on academics, yet stay passionate about their favorite sport.

 Ellie Paschal says she appreciates this perk of club sports since she already has such a busy agenda.

 “We don’t have to be so strict, we can work with people’s schedules,” Paschal said.

 Paschal, a Spanish education major, is the founder of the women’s club lacrosse team at VSU, which is one of the few club sports that offer both men’s and women’s teams.

 “I would love to bring more people in to play lacrosse and have VSU known for lacrosse,” Paschal said.

 Although this is the women’s second year as a club, this is their first year of intercollegiate competition.

 The girls played their first games on March 5 and 6 at a tournament hosted by Shorter College in Rome, Ga.  Schools with scholarship players and more developed programs such as Reinhardt, Robert Morris, and Aquinas participated that weekend as well.

 With the addition of new players, the club plans to grow into a more competitive squad.

 “There’s definitely a lot of interest,” Sicilia Stevens said.  “Almost every high school has lacrosse now, so there’s a good amount of recruitment available.”

Stevens, a political science major, serves as the goalie and the vice president of the club.

 Paschal and Stevens can’t just rely on girls to look into the program and sign up, so they use other ways of recruiting.  Facebook, mass emails, and large events like The Happening bring attention to the team.

 Paschal and Taylor Burgess, co-founder of the club, are comfortable with the intramural notion, but they wouldn’t mind taking things to the next level.

 “I would love to see it become a scholarship sport,” Paschal said.

Soccer has been the newest addition of women’s varsity sports and perhaps lacrosse could be the next.

 “Dr. Patrick Schloss seems really excited about it,” Paschal said.  “He seems like he would be interested in getting lacrosse on its way.”

 VSU women’s club lacrosse team travels to Tallahassee, Fla. this weekend to participate in a tournament hosted by Florida State University.