New Women’s Lacrosse Program Focuses on Fundamentals and Team-Building

Cindy Hill knew it wasn‘t going to be easy. When Siena Heights University hired the former Tecumseh High School coach to start its women’s lacrosse program in the fall 2011, Hill recognized her first priority.

“The big thing was recruiting,” she said. “Getting a team ready in eight months was a huge challenge.”

Hill fused her first recruiting class with some current SHU students on campus to form her first team. Although the results on the field have been predictable for a first-year program, Hill said the Saints’ first team is one to remember.

“I just told them to go out and do their best,” Hill said. “They’ve just really impressed me with their stamina, work ethic and their character. They knew they were doing their best and they were true sportsmen.”

Hill knew a startup program needed to have a sense of teamwork before even taking the field. She decided to take the fun route, hosting player sleepovers, paintball tournaments—even mini golf—to build that sense of comraderie.

“I’m a kid at heart, and that’s just a good excuse for me to play with them,” Hill said of the offseason social events. “That’s all part of building a team. You have to do fun stuff like that together. It forms bonds and relationships.”

According to her players, it worked.

“We have a blast wherever we go,” said soph-omore Tayleen Marowelli, a former high school athlete who decided to go out for lacrosse. “We’re like one big family on and off the field.”

Marowelli is one of several first-year players on the roster who had to learn the sport from scratch. Hill said there are also currently four SHU women’s soccer players on the roster— including goaltender Alessia Vagnini— who have also been quick studies.

“We had to go back to square one,” Hill said. “The soccer kids already had the field vision. They knew how to play. It was just a matter of getting the throwing and catching down. A few times they tried to kick that (ball) and they got in trouble because the whistle goes off the minute the ball touches any part of your body.”

Vagnini, who is used to roaming the field as a high-energy soccer player, has had a difficult transition to playing a stay-at-home goalie in lacrosse, Hill said.

“She’s used to being out on the field and running,” Hill said of Vagnini. “We’ve got a goalie who we can’t keep in goal.”

Marowelli, a four-sport standout at nearby Lenawee Christian High School, said learning lacrosse was a blend of soccer and basketball skills.

“And I had to use a stick instead of my feet,” she said. “Once you learned to catch, you pretty much get it. One day it clicks.”

“Those kids who came in brand new, they are awesome,” Hill said.

Freshman Sam Skodi, a member of the first recruiting class from the Chicagoland suburb of Naperville, Ill., said she feels like a coach on the field at times. And she doesn’t mind one bit.

“It’s a lot of fun to get it started, and I love teaching,” said Skodi, one of the team’s leading scorers who is in her seventh year of playing. “I’m usually a coach back home over the summer.”

Hill said variety is the key to training her youthful players. She has enlisted a strength and conditioning coach to work with her players a couple of days a week, and also makes games out of many of her practice drills.

“You don’t want to run the same drill over and over again,” Hill said. “I really try to make the drills fund and add some variety to them. Every time we do it, we try to get better and better.”

The Saints have only one won game this season; however, there has been progress.

Making it even more challenging is that SHU only has two home matches this season, including its home opener against defending national champion Indiana Tech. Hill decided to take her team on the road, playing top programs in Savannah, Ga., Chicago and St. Louis. She said her team benefited from the experience.

“At Robert Morris (in Chicago) we had two games in a row. That’s 120 minutes with only one sub,” Hill said. “By the last 30 minutes of that (second) game, they dominated the other team, who was playing their first game. That‘s really a true measure of a team, especially when you‘re down a lot. I was really proud of them.”

“It’s a challenging season, but it’s not frustrating,” Marowelli said. “We all know we are learning and we know that half of our team is brand new. We’re working really hard, so it’s encouraging to know that we are building something really strong.”

“I love it here. Lacrosse has been awesome,” said Skodi, who cited playing her older sister’s team, Indiana Tech, as the highlight of her season. “It’s been really fun just to get to know people. It’s a learning experience. You just have to roll with it.”

Hill said help is on the way. Now with a full year to recruit, the Saints already have a bumper crop of prep student-athletes on the way. In fact, Hill said she has commitments from players in several states, including Colorado, Connecticut, South Carolina, Ohio and Michigan.

“The talent will improve,” Hill said. “The first season is definitely something we’ve been through together as a team. We’ve made it a good experience.”