One Keene State College Owl shares her experience on her not-so-typical Spring Break
Morgan Markley
Senior Reporter
Rolling our suitcases down Appian Way at 3 a.m. to catch a plane to Florida is a typical start to a not-so-typical spring break for the Keene State College women’s lacrosse team. Our days are filled with two-a-days, sleeping, eating more than we do at Thanksgiving, laughing, and hopefully some time in the sun.
Day one: After five hours of travel we landed in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. at around noon and filled up our vans with our luggage and headed to the Marriott Residence Inn in Boca Raton, Fla. We stayed there last year for spring break so it felt like familiar territory.
Erin Taylor / Contributed photo
The KSC women’s lacrosse team lines up on the beach in Florida on March 14. The Lady Owls spent five days in Florida for their annual Spring Break preseason trip. The Owls went 0-2 in the Sunshine State.
We all had assigned rooms and the rooms made grocery lists of what they would like to eat for the week. This year the popular items on the grocery lists were popsicles, granola bars, carrots and assorted fruits.
After we stocked up on food it was time to do what we went to Florida for: play some lacrosse. The first practice is always a little tough; we were tired from traveling and we were not used to the 80 degree weather.
Although the weather was hot we were so excited to finally wear just our pinnies and shorts. Once we wrapped up our first two-hour practice it was back to the hotel for taco night and a good night sleep before practice the next morning at 8 a.m.
Day two: Practice at 8 a.m. came a little too early but after breakfast at the hotel, we were once again ready to hit the fields after applying much needed sunscreen. This practice was hot and for me the toughest of the trip. Filled with lots of running and complex drills, we worked our hardest knowing that after we would be able to go to the beach. When the KSC women’s lacrosse team went to the beach, we take it very seriously. Every year we take a picture lined up in front of the ocean with our pinnies on, a fun tradition that I hope will always carry on.
Beach time was now over and it was time for the second practice of the day. It’s always hard to get motivated after laying out in the sun but once we put our goggles on we knew that ultimately we are here to play lacrosse and prepare for a tough game on Monday against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Day three: Up early again for another practice, we loaded into the vans and headed to the fields. Practice this day was a little easier for us because the day before a game we always like to take it a little easy. After practice we went to the pool in the hotel and crossed paths with our opponents RPI because we realized they were staying in the same hotel.
This made for some awkward looks but also made us more excited to play the game. After the time spent by the pool, practice number two of the day was upon us and we were a little more into this practice after just seeing RPI.
Day four: Game Day. To start the day off we all had our little rituals we like to do whether it’s listening to a certain type of music or doing our hair a certain way. But before we can play we must get one practice in before. This practice was only an hour long and allowed us to go over our plays and fix some last-minute things. After practice, we were confined to our rooms until game time because the heat would make us tired. After some rest it was time to take on RPI, a game that we had been thinking about and preparing for all week.
The RPI game was the toughest game we’ve faced so far this year. They were big and aggressive and came out strong for the game. We all worked really hard but we weren’t able to hold them off and lost 2-11. Although we lost, we were happy with our performance especially in the second half. After a loss like that we always try to remember that playing teams that are good like RPI will only help prepare us for important conference games.
Day five: Our last full day in Florida was spent having our first practice of the day cancelled so we could get a couple hours of extra sleep. After sleeping in, we went to the zoo, which is a nice way to take a break from lacrosse for a few hours.
After the zoo we headed back to the fields for a practice. This was our last practice before we took on Saint Lawrence University, another hard game for us. SLU came out ready to play, scoring two goals right off the bat. We continued to battle back but in the end lost 6 to 11. After the game it was time to head back to the airport for our night flight back to Hartford, Conn. Until next spring break we will continue to work hard and get some wins on our schedule.
Morgan Markley can be contacted at
mmarkley@keene-equinox.com
