VSU had a new sport join the school in the Fall of 2010 when the women’s lacrosse team was founded. And since then they have attempted to further VSU’s winning tradition in the athletic department.

The lacrosse team has recruited girls from many different sports and sprinkled in a few veteran players to build one of the bigger club teams on campus.

Players were brought into the team in a variety of fashions from former lacrosse players that wanted to continue playing a sport they love, to new players looking to get a little bit of a workout.

“Coming in freshman year I didn’t really know anyone; I went to The Happening and saw there was a lacrosse team,” Jeena Yohannan, junior exercise physiology major, said. “It is something I liked in high school and it seemed like a good way to meet people.”

This past February the team travelled to Rome, Ga. to compete against colleges such as: Reinhardt, Tennessee Wesleyan, Shorter, and Aquinas in a tournament.

Although the team ended the tournament without a win, they played extremely competitively against colleges that actually recruit lacrosse players. To make the close nature in which games were played even more impressive, take into account that nearly half of the team had never played in an actual lacrosse game before.

“We definitely have a lot of new players to lacrosse, but luckily, most of the girls that join have played other team sports and pick up the game very quickly,” Lacey Turner, the VSU women lacrosse captain, said.

Lacrosse is a game that is a lot more popular in the north than in southern states but look for a spike in the game in the near future.

Turner’s words for the students of VSU and the city of Valdosta are clear.

“Just keep an eye out for lacrosse…It’s such a fun sport and is growing like wildfire, especially as it’s moving through Georgia. I can’t wait to see it really grow in Valdosta in the next few years!” she said.

Practices for the team are held on North Campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7-9 p.m. Anyone who is interested in playing on the team or just wants to get some exercise is welcome to attend team practices.