As many fall sports are coming into the final stretch of their seasons, women’s lacrosse is headed into winter training for the spring competition season.

In the spring, women’s and men’s lacrosse will travel around the Midwest to compete against other collegiate lacrosse clubs as part of the North Central Women’s Lacrosse League. However, this will be the women’s first time competing since 2008.

Some players feel that the falling out of the team three years ago may have been due to a lack of interest or knowledge about the sport.

“I know that a couple of years ago there was a club, but it just ended up dying out,” said freshman midfielder Rachel Mandell. “The numbers just weren’t showing up to practices, and nobody was that into it anymore.”

In those off years, women had to compete in summer leagues in order to get their fix of the sport.

However, other players feel that maybe competition and absence of leadership were a main basis of why the team split.

“The level of competition wasn’t what [other players] expected,” said sophomore attacker Jamie Samuelson.

Because the competition level was such a shock to some women, less-experienced girls stopped coming to practice, resulting in low numbers for the team. A deficiency in leadership roles on the team also played a key part in the dissolving of the women’s team.

“The girl who started it graduated, and no one took the leadership to start it again,” said junior Anna Schowe. “I don’t think it was really a core group of girls in the beginning.”

Despite the hardships the team has faced over the past few years, the players say they are back on track for a spring competition season.

The ISU men’s lacrosse club has been in contact with the women’s club to ensure that the women are ready to play in the spring. Working as one lacrosse program, the men have helped the women start up the program again.

“They’ve been helping us out a lot in the beginning,” Schowe said. “[For example], to know what meetings we have to do. There are so many precautions you have to take.”

Players said that they are ready to be dedicated to this year’s team and hope to keep this club going for a long time. A common goal they share is to get the name of ISU women’s lacrosse out there and get people to participate, even at a younger skill level.

“A team goal is to just establish ourselves as an Iowa State team and personally, just having fun and sharing the experience I have with other girls,” Samuelson said.

Competition season for both men’s and women’s lacrosse commences in early February.