By Kaitlin Hicks

Hearts pounding and adrenaline pumping, any member of FSU’s women’s lacrosse team knows the feeling of stepping onto the field in anticipation of that first draw of the game. And after Saturday’s victory over Becker College, 20-4, Fitchburg State’s women’s lacrosse team will be heading into the post season with an astounding 12-2 record.
FSU women’s lacrosse Head Coach Richard Terrio is confident with the strides his team has made during the regular season. “We have a nationally ranked defense where we gave up less than nine goals per game,” Terrio explains when discussing his team’s many strengths. Offensively the team is also very powerful. “We have some major offensive weapons like Amanda Burns and Kelly Finamore, who combined for 96 goals during the season,” Terrio says.
With a very capable offense and defense, the Falcons will be heading into the post season to play a worthy opponent, Castleton State College in Vermont. Terrio admits that Castleton is going to be a challenge, starting with a three-hour drive to the game.
“We are 0-4 lifetime against them so this will be our last chance to beat them, because they are leaving our conference after this season,” Terrio says. This previous record against Castleton is not going to stop the team from striving toward their goal of heading to the championship game.
After ending the fourth regular season of Fitchburg State women’s lacrosse, Terrio says he has a very talented team. This team was able to achieve such success due to “great team chemistry and leadership from the four captains.” After a tough fall and winter of workouts lead by Connie Perry, the team was able to maintain a spring season with few injuries and strong performances.
The team was not completely immune to setbacks, though. “We lost some key players to injuries and sickness during the season in some key games,” Terrio says. “We had to play through the adversity and the team performed excellently.”
With the playoffs ahead of them, Coach Terrio is optimistic that his team will perform up to the high standards they have set for themselves. “We feel very confident going into the playoffs,” he says. “We didn’t play well in our first game against Castleton. Some of our players were sick so we didn’t show them our real team. We will be ready to play them Wednesday and I am quite certain we will pull out a win”.