The lacrosse team brought home an 18-17 overtime victory against Chapman Feb. 22. Midfielders Olivia Okamoto (junior) and Maeve Moylan (junior) both scored their 100th career points during this game, scoring six and three goals, respectively.
One of three captains, Ella Acker (senior), an attacker, said it was the first time during her athletic career that Occidental had won against Chapman on Chapman’s home turf.
“I think that our senior class as a whole just really wanted to win that game, because we’ve never won an away game against Chapman,” Acker said. “So [when] stepping on the field, we were like, ‘I don’t care that we’re away right now.’”
Moylan, another captain, said playing Chapman away incites extra passion in the players and boosts team morale.
“It’s always fun to play against them, because it’s very competitive,” Moylan said. “They have rowdy fans, so it’s just fun.”
Head Coach Sierra Slack ’18 said the Tigers’ fans also came out in support, which aided team morale.
“We have some pretty dedicated fans,” Slack said. “We had a ton of families there at the Chapman game […] so we definitely had a support system there.”
Acker put two goals and two assists on the board in the second half. She said she felt a sense of anxiety and anticipation entering the game but that her focus changed as the second half began.
“As a leader on this team, there are a few things that I have to do,” Acker said. “I have to be able to communicate, I have to be able to be consistent and I have to be able to just be a presence on the field that people can count on and also work off of.”
Olivia Okamoto (junior) said the team felt more comfortable entering their second game of the season.
“I feel like we look a lot more fluid as a team, and we look a lot more confident,” Okamoto said. “People are taking a lot more risks and trying things that they’ve never tried before, and I think everybody is just really excited to see how this season goes.”
Slack said she returned to campus with a lot of goals in mind for the team.
“I definitely had a lot of team goals left on the table as a player, and so being able to build on the foundation of the team, that family and that family culture while kind of ushering us into a more competitive era is pretty exciting for me,” Slack said.
Okamoto and Moylan both said they did not realize that they had scored their 100th points in the moment.
“I think we worked so hard as a team this whole game that it really didn’t feel like it was something that I achieved,” Okamoto said. “It was something we all worked together for.”
Slack said the final point, scored by Moylan, was aided by the entire team through assists, passes and forcing turnovers.
“It was truly a full team effort,” Slack said. “That’s always the most exciting thing for me as a coach, when everyone has contributed to such an exciting win.”
Acker and Okamoto said they attribute a lot of their success to the upperclassmen’s determination to beat their rival.
“I think us as a senior class, we’ve really come together and decided we are going to represent this team in the best way that we can,” Acker said. “We just need to win because we have worked so hard these past four years, and we want it to show.”
The lacrosse team has a senior-heavy roster, which Okamoto said she thinks helps to bring the team closer.
“Our attackers are a lot of upperclassmen, and we’ve all played with each other for a long time,” Okamoto said. “I feel like we’re all super comfortable with each other, and we’re being more creative.”
Moylan spent last semester studying abroad in Berlin, Germany, but said that her return to campus and to the team went smoothly.
“Honestly, [coming back] doesn’t feel that different,” said Moylan. “It’s just a smooth transition — loving. Being friends with everybody and everybody wanting to be friends on the team made it awesome [ … ] It’s like one big family.”
Slack said having five players abroad last semester was nerve-wracking, but their return brought passion and excitement to the team. She said the team entered this game with a heightened desire and hunger to take home the win.
“They were able to kind of balance that hunger with maturity and patience and discipline,” Slack said.
Contact Abigail Montopoli at montopoli@oxy.edu
