Follow The Women's Lacrosse Team as they Travel to California

Follow women's lacrosse captains Jackie Connors and Kaila Chase as the team travels to Santa Barbara, California for their Spring Games.

March 24

Today we woke up early to head to the beach one last time. The team decided on Venice Beach in Los Angeles. We arrived after a long 2 and a half hour van ride along the Pacific Highway again to beautiful skies and 70 degrees. Along the beach there are many stores and places to eat. Venice Beach is also where muscle beach is located, an outdoor gym for the buff, protein loving, muscle heads to work out on the beach (and work on their tan!) Next to muscle beach is an area full of pull up bars, beams, and rope climbing. Team manager, Jess Wilding came out of gymnastics retirement and stuck a cartwheel on the beam first try. Very impressive. Also, Meghan Pini climbed to the top of the ropes course like a pro. Also, very impressive. For lunch we all got burgers, fries, and chicken fingers. It was a very nutritious vacation to say the least. We laid out all day long getting our tan (or burn) on before we go back to the cold. Many souvenir shops were hit as we have many sweatshirts and tanks to come back to Mass with us.  

We showered at the beach with the surfers after feeling super sandy and oily. We left the beach around 6 to head back to the airport at Long Beach. LA traffic was worse than Boston traffic if you can believe it but we made it through with DJ Jackie Connors and DJ Mack Little playing tunes to get us through. Getting through security was a breeze. After we threw our bags down at the terminal it was a free for all at the concessions gathering snacks, quesadillas, more burgers, and sandwiches for the long plane ride ahead of us.  The next best thing was how we got to walk outside on the jet way to board the plane (we get amused by the littlest things).  We felt like we were famous! Now the 5 hour plane ride awaits! 

This trip was one to remember. A special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Pruyn for being our super fans and making the trip out with us!  

We now have a much needed few days off before the rest of our season continues!   Hope you enjoyed the journey with us! 

March 23

We had another early morning because it's GAME DAY. We got to the field around 8:45am for a game we thought was at 10. We thought wrong. Our game was actually at 11am so we sat around but made the best of it by playing a game called "butts up" in a dance studio they have on campus. We had a blast and might need to incorporate that game into our pregame warm ups when we come back to Massachusetts. We played Hope college and started out with an early 8-0 lead and from then on dominated the rest of the game. Overall it was a great team win and we had some career firsts.  Happy to be coming home with a record of 2-1 from Cali!

After the game we naturally had a photo shoot with each other in front of the mountains before we went to the dining hall for lunch.  After lunch we headed back to the hotel where some rooms finished their skits (you'll find out more later) and some hung by the pool. In the evening the team ventured to Stearns Warf which is a pier in Santa Barbara with lots of restaurants and little shops.   On the walk to the restaurant on the warf we found this cool throw a coin in a cup game, hard to describe we know.  The team obviously took part in this game and whenever someone hit a cup, the crowd went wild.  Krissy Pessa hit 3 in a row!

Our team dinner was at Moby Dicks restaurant where we enjoyed all sorts of food ranging from juicy burgers to seafood linguine. The restaurant overlooked the harbor and a beautiful sunset.   Of course we had our routine photo shoots.  Some of us could even be models.  Kidding, we will stick to lacrosse.  On the ride back to the hotel, Coach Kel's van obviously got lost twice but we didn't mind because we had our three song playlist on repeat.

After dinner we had our fourth annual skit night where each room broke off created anything they could think of from song and dance to acting and presented it to the team. Boy were they funny.  I don't even know how to put into words what some of them were but they gave us all a good laugh to say the least. Now it's time to do some packing and get ready for our long day at the beach tomorrow and our last day in beautiful California. 

March 22

The team woke up bright and early for a 9:30 practice. While waiting for girls in the training room (we never waste time) the girls decided to teach each other 'the worm' and also play a classic game of "the hand game".  We were then ready for practice!  This practice was run by the head coach of the women's lacrosse club team here at UCSB, Paul Ramsey.  Coach Ramsey was actually the coach at The College of Holy Cross for five years!  We did drills we've done before but also learned a few new ones. There was a lot more communication and great stick work today. We learned a lot and we're ready to show it at tomorrow's game against Hope College. 

After our great practice we went for a quick lunch at the dining hall, where many of us were able to make our own smoothies, where obviously some struggled but then we headed straight to the beach! We went to East Beach and spent hours laying out tanning (and some burning), walking along the beach, burying each other, and swimming. Jackie Connors and Kylie Farrell wanted to be buried in the sand. Fellow teammates, Alexis Vecchiarelli, Erin Haltham, and Mackenzie Little, decided to make them mermaids! Most beautiful mermaids to ever wash up on shore.

On one of our walks we passed by some Canadian beach volleyball players. They were friendly enough to ask us to play and of course we did. We had too many girls to play with them so we started our own game. Our competitive sides always get the best of us. After a few arguments of who's ball it is, it was out of bounds, and who's fault it was for hitting the ball too hard, we realized we should stick to lacrosse. It's for the best. 

We of course wanted ice cream after the beach! We found a Cold Stone Creamery and took over. This was just the beginning of our hunger. There was a farmers market and mall on the street so we did some shopping and more eating. Within an hour and half of being here we consumed ice cream, sushi, pretzels, French fries, and burgers, when we knew we were getting pizza back at the hotel... 

March 21

Today we woke up for an early breakfast to get ready for our 10 am game against George Fox University a team from Oregon. It was a tie game at half and the weather was hot.  It was a tough loss where both teams were very back and fourth. Our transitions have improved immensely but it is definitely a game we can build off of. 

After the game we got a bite to eat at the UCSB dining commons where Mackenzie Little, Alexis Vecc, Alexa Harvey, Kylie Farrell, Kaila Chase and Jackie Connors shared a team ice cream cone as we walked down the side walk. After lunch we headed to a kayak place called Paddle Sports in Santa Barbara harbor where everyone paired up and got to spend two hours roaming around the pacific. During the journey a few of us couldn't handle the waves and flipped over numerous times (cough cough Erin Haltam and Aston Arthur). We saw sea lions and pelicans on our adventure. It was extremely tiring fighting the strong 20 mph winds and waves but we were all smiles trying to ride the waves and flip each other over. Needless to say we will be sore tomorrow.  We stopped by the campus beach on our way to dinner hopeful to see some surfers.  Unfortunately the waves were not big enough.  Maybe tomorrow! 

From there we got dinner back at the dining commons. Immediately after getting back to the hotel everyone ran to the pool and hot tub and relaxed for the rest of the night.  A great game of Marco Polo always can keep us entertained. We don't have a game tomorrow but we have practice bright and early!  

March 20, 2016

The team woke up refreshed this morning for our game against Meiji University, an international team from Japan. Before the game we had a great breakfast of waffles, omelets, and sending endless snapchats of embarrassing pictures to each other... while we're all sitting together. We headed off to University of California Santa Barbara for our first game. We arrived a little early so of course we took advantage of this and fooled around in an old dance studio. Pregame has never been so fun! 

Our game against Meiji was incredibly fun. It was interesting to see the differences in the wsulax of our teams play.  We ended up winning the game but that wasn't the most exciting part.  At the end of the game we exchanged gifts!  We gave WSU water bottles and pins in exchange for Japanese strawberry kit-kats (so good), green tea, Japanese cookies, stickers and Amanda Pruyn got a towel!  The goalie had never learned how to make a real save before so Krissy Pessa was kind enough to teach them some goalie hints!  

 Next, we went to a delicious pizza place to refuel after our win! We quickly went back to the hotel to change into our bathing suits for a trip to the Pacific Ocean! This was a trip in its own. Our team manager, Jess Wilding, cut her foot on the board walk within 10 minutes of being there. A friendly lady helped her out with some miscellaneous items in her purse! Coach Deb found a little crab on the beach, Mackenzie Little wanted to be his friend, but he did not. He was a pincher! Some of the girls were looking for sea glass, others were swimming, Hayley Sutherland was becoming a pro at GoPro-ing. On our long walk on the beach, Alexa Harvey thought she stepped in dog poop and spent a good twenty minutes rubbing her foot on rocks, sand, and in water. Soon after we noticed we all had "dog poop" on our feet, but really it was oil and sand from the beach.  The big oil rig boats should have been a dead give away!

 After our adventures on the beach we went to UCSB dining hall for a light but yummy dinner. Kylie Farrell saw a dime in a shallow pool on campus and decided she wanted to go for a dip. (Yes pool in the dinning hall.). She came out a rich gal. On our way back to the hotel we spontaneously decided to turn the vans around to see the sunset. Unfortunately, we didn't make it for the sun setting, but the pictures were still great. After a long day full of shenanigans we made it back to the hotel to scrub our feet, relax by the hot tub, and snuggle in bed. We're getting ready for our game against George Fox University tomorrow! Stay tuned!

#12 and #15

March 19, 2016

Our trip to California started bright and early after our Castleton game Friday night. We all went back to our rooms to do last minute packing and 2:45 am rolls around much faster than you think. Some of the girls got a few hours nap in before our departure to Santa Barbara, California and some haven't slept since the night before but all are equally as energized and excited for our spring break trip. We got to Logan Airport and some of us had an easier time getting through security than others. Meg Pini was the exception when they pulled her aside and did the full body check, but not to worry she wasn't trying to bring any hazardous items onto the plane with us, it must have just been 'the boot'. We had a quick flight to JKF and then a two hour layover. That's when we started dropping like flies. Angie Sutherland started the movement when she decided to get some shut eye on the floor of the airport, then one by one, six others followed and we were sprawled out sleeping in front of our terminal entrance. It's safe to say people were looking at us funny as we were taking over JFK.

Finally,  we depart on our flight to LAX and stumbled upon a famous actress from the TV show "How to Get Away with Murder" sitting in first class which caused quite the ruckus for the first half hour of the flight. After everyone settled down, the plane ride seemed to be never ending and I think some of us started going delusional with the lack of sleep.

As we were flying over Nebraska, Hayley Sutherland noticed all the bodies of water on the ground "it looks like more water than land" she said and we both sit here wondering how they have so much water in a landlocked state but after a long few minutes of questioning, we then realized they were cloud shadows and not so much bodies of water. Yikes, exhaustion really does get the best of us.

After hopping off the plane at LAX, we waited for the coaches to return with the vans. We decided we needed to go to In and Out burger and see what all the hype was about, with Angie Sutherland in control of the GPS. We ended up at 3 different locations but we finally got there. As we were waiting for our food, we saw a bride and groom come in with their wedding photographer at the conclusion of their wedding. Of course this was exciting for the lax team to see.

After eating lunch, we went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where on the drive there we saw the Hollywood sign!  Once we got  to Hollywood Blvd, we saw some celebrities star: on the sidewalk such as Johnny Depp, Hugh Heffner, James Franco, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep. We also saw the Dolby Theater and Madame Toussaints Wax Museum.   Many of us have never been to Hollywood so this was all so exciting.  While walking down the street we saw a man holding a sign "I look like Marilyn Monroe".  He had other signs and gave them out to a few girls on the team. Jackie Connors was handed one that said "I look like Taylor Swift" Mackenzie Callini was handed a sign that read "I want to get married. Must be 18 years old and have $250,000." Chloe Anderson, Alaina Martin, Alexa Harvey and Hayley Sutherland were also handed signs as well. After that we packed back up in the vans and headed for Rodeo Dr in Beverly Hills. We only got lost once or twice but we found our way seeing stores such as Neimann Marcus, Saks fifth Avenue, Barneys, Gucci and many others. 

Finally after a long day we were headed for the hotel!  We decided to take the scenic route along the Pacific Coast Highway. 

While on our way to the hotel we pulled over and took pictures in front of the coastline! We were all pretty excited to see the Pacific Ocean since many of us never have, especially with the gorgeous sunset in the background.  Once we got to our hotel we quickly got situated and then headed to get dinner. It was a great first day in California.  Stay tuned to see how our first game goes tomorrow vs. a team from Japan!