Celebrating graduation is certainly significant, and celebrating the first graduating class of a new women’s sport at the University of Oregon is simply exciting.  What’s more—the Women’s Lacrosse team is succeeding, improving and electrifying in their own right.  In fact, while Women’s Lacrosse will graduate its first class and eight seniors in 2008—it will have garnered its second national ranking in just four years.  This is no small accomplishment when one considers the recruiting and work necessary to compete on the national level in just four years—in a region of the country where no Division I lacrosse teams existed until the inception of this team in 2005.

Consider too these recent facts as listed by the Oregon Daily Emerald:  six Oregon high school lacrosse teams existed in 1997, and since then, Oregon has seen a 61% increase in lacrosse participation.  Today, there are six high school Lacrosse teams in Eugene alone and fortunately the UO is leading the surge in college lacrosse in the Northwest. 

This June will mark both the celebration of that commitment to new women’s sports and to the commitment of eight players, all coming from outside of Oregon, to initiate a new legacy.  They include:  Carrie Bateman of Sparks, Md; Jana Bradley of Encinitas, CA; Jenny Browne of Sandwich, Mass; Lindsay Killian of Liverpool, NY; Liora Lobel of Reisterstown, Md; Laura Lynch of Forest Hll, Md, Jen May of Davidsonville, Md; Theresa Waldron of Liverpool, NY.

For more on Women’s Lacrosse and the senior class, go here.