2013 Boston University Lacrosse Player Blog: Hypothermia

2013 Boston University Lacrosse Player Blog: Hypothermia

The 2013 season is here and we wanted to work closely with college programs to bring a part of the excitement to you. Throughout the 2013 season we will highlight lacrosse programs on our space for all of our readers to follow. Player blogs serve as a unique outlet for programs to showcase their season as it develops, plus highlight everything they have to offer a student-athlete. In contrast, families and fans get a glimpse into the program’s athletic and academic regimen.

Danielle Etrasco
Senior – #13 – Attacker
Boston University

Week 5: Hypothermia

We are officially out of preseason! That’s right, season is here. It amazes me how quickly these weeks are going by. We had our first game against UMass this past Wednesday and the anticipation leading up that game opener was unlike any other. All week, the only thing I could think of was “this could be the last time I play Umass,” and that’s a scary thought! I realized game day also means I have important decisions to make.

You know, when will I straighten my hair, what will my game day sneakers be, pregame meals, pump up speeches, buddy cards, and the list goes on. Every team has their rituals, superstitions, game day routines and here at BU we’re no different. One of our big ones is before every home game one of the classes decorates the locker room. It’s pretty cool to see what everyone comes up with. It also happens to work out that our rivalries get the most attention. My personal favorite was two years ago; the freshman made a crime scene theme so realistic that one of the BU facility people actually thought there was a murder in the locker room. In hindsight, it was probably super traumatic for this poor women to come down and see a fake outline of a body in the showers and blood (red paint) everywhere, but it definitely got us pumped before the game! Tuesday night, our sophomores played off of the “Minutemen” theme and when we got to the locker room on Wednesday there were clocks everywhere and a big sign saying “time’s up MinuteMEN.”

I guess we have some interesting superstitions. One of our juniors krumps to Lil’ John’s “Get Outta Your Mind,” Miracle always has to be on the TV, Hall & Oats “You Make My Dreams Come True” must play right before we leave the locker room, and some of our girls feel the need to chug 5 Hour Energies. I don’t think I do anything too strange; I wear eye-black, drink my yellow Gatorade, and my fellow Long Islander, Kristen Mogavero and I write our numbers on each other’s legs, but aside from that I don’t like eat worms or wear the same unwashed shirt or anything.

In my entire BU career we have never had good weather for our UMass game and Wednesday just proved that some higher being is determined to make sure that remains true. To say it was a monsoon is an understatement, combine hurricane, ice storm, tornado, and torrential downpour and those were our game conditions. The wind was so strong, we were unable to have our nice bench-bubble shelters on the sideline, eventually our draining system was donezo, and there was no amount of cinderblocks that would hold up our nets along the end-lines. With all that going on, good teams adjust right? Before I dive into what it feels like to almost freeze to death I just want to say, we won the game and that really is all that matters. But it is worth noting that the cold a) makes people do very strange things and b) a lacrosse game should never again be played in such conditions. To the best of our ability we tried to ignore the ice whipping into our eyes, our 50lb waterlogged cleats, and our bodies uncontrollably convulsing. It just wasn’t a normal feeling, the weather was bad enough that if I had to just walk in it I wouldn’t have been happy, never mind stay outside in it for three hours; of course we like drama and had to go into OT. I think I’m finally getting to the point where I can laugh about it, but at the time there was no laughing. That’s not to say there weren’t hilarious things going on. We use a whiteboard to call plays into our attackers and mid-game, a gust of wind came along and practically lifted sophomore Austin Noonan who was holding the board, off the ground. At the time, no laughing, especially when Liz turned around and saw the board in disarray, but now looking back, very funny. Another time, Liz told one of our girls they couldn’t look cold (as in she didn’t want them to think about it) and that girl responded that she wasn’t cold and in fact, her uncontrollable shivering was dancing. Again, when it happened, not a lot of laughing, now, very funny.

The weather, believe it or not, had a silver lining. UMass was four games down coming into this game, compared to our zero. Needless to say, our jitters were high. Here’s the irony: the monsoon helped reduce those nerves because, quite honestly, it had most of your attention. The popular fear of “making a mistake” was eliminated because mistakes were bound to happen when you’re on the verge of hypothermia, both teams were dropping passes left and right. Instead, we broke the game down into the simplest form- focus on what you could control. We found success in hustle and fight; goalie Christina Sheridan came away with the first charge of the season! Also, a quick shoutout to freshman Sofia Robins who tallied her first collegiate goal,Congrats kiddo.

So that was our first game. It was amazing to start the season out on a hard fought win but that’s behind us now and we’re focusing on the games we have coming up. Practices are now split between scouting other teams and continuing to up our game adding in new attacking sets, working on the ride, and our new work-ethic “9 and 0” mentality. This week we play Dartmouth on Wednesday then leave Thursday for our spring break trip, which includes Notre Dame and Denver. Spring break is one of my favorite weeks of season so stay tuned for some funny stories, a recap of team skit night, and the trip in general.

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1 Comment

  1. […] Danielle Etrasco thought it was kind of cold at last week’s women’s lacrosse home opener. Also, important developments in women’s lacrosse superstitions. (Danielle Etrasco, Lacrosse Playground) […]

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