The ISU women’s lacrosse club defeated Kansas and Arkansas on Saturday, April 20, 2013 to claim the North Central Women’s Lacrosse League title.

The team beat Kansas 22-12 and Arkansas 12-7. The ISU women’s club lost a close one in two overtimes the last time it met up with the Razorbacks.

The wins were an accomplishment for the club because this is only the second year of the team’s existence. In three years, the ISU women’s lacrosse club will move up to Division I competition.

“It meant a lot to win the league championship because of the fact that it’s only our second year as a team,” said Nyssa Hughes, junior in architecture. “Last year we didn’t win much and we came into this year with a lot of drive. Now we’re the ones beating the teams we lost to last year.”

Jennifer and Jessica Koeger, both freshmen in mechanical engineering, played well during the championship weekend, combining to score more than half of the team’s goals on April 20.

“[Jennifer and Jessica] scored the majority of our points. We couldn’t have done it without them,” said Corrine Buffington, senior in dietetics.

The Koegers emphasized how the team came together and played its best lacrosse during the championship weekend.

“We really stepped up our game and meshed as a team. All of our strategies came together and we clicked,” Jessica said.

After those wins, the team then lost to Minnesota-Duluth 12-9. The Cyclones would have locked in a bid to go to nationals in Colorado with a win, but they were excited to win the league championship despite missing out on the bid to nationals.

Buffington, president of the club, started the team from scratch. She got support from the school after talking with the men’s lacrosse team.

With the hard work came some obstacles as well.

“We had a little bit of problem with participation — not a lot of girls came out for the team,” Jennifer said. “We also didn’t have a ton of practices.”

After a weekend of winning the league championship, the expectations for next year will be high.

“The expectations are very high for next year. We’ll be getting new girls and we have no seniors leaving,” Hughes said. “We have a our full team returning.”