ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse program is just a day shy of making its inaugural debut on the field at the Concordia Dome. The Golden Bears will host Northland College on Friday at 7 p.m. in the inaugural game for each program before facing Marian University on Sunday at 11 a.m. in the second game for each program. Marian will play its inaugural game on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Northland in a weekend that features three teams in their inaugural action.

Yesterday, the first of a two-part season preview was released including information on the inaugural weekend and general program expectations and what to expect from the team. Today, part two of the season preview focuses on an introduction to the inaugural roster and what to expect at each position.

MEET THE CAPTAINS: LaVALLE & STICKLER
Head coach Mo Dunnigan announced the team captains for the 2017 season, with junior Kallie LaValle and freshman Sara Stickler being named to the posts. The captain picks were made following the fall season, a process that included nominations from each member of the team. Each nominee was then ranked using the team's 16 different qualities being sought in a team captain.
 
"We went through fall without designated team leadership with the intention of discovering who naturally emerges into that role. The process had its pros and cons as navigated through the fall season. Fall games were tough without captain leadership, it was all coach directed so it's been great now that we've selected our captains," said Dunnigan.
 
She continued, "After we received all of the nominations and evaluations of the captain candidates, we quickly realized that all of the student-athletes who we thought as a staff would be good fits were nominated by the team. As a staff, we took the results and found ourselves in agreement with the what the team overall conveyed in their surveys. It allowed us to have a truly collaborative process that resulted in a consistent and clear cut process. It really reinforced the cohesion that we've been able to develop in such a short time."
 
Dunnigan elaborated on the individual selections, "Kallie is our eldest player and really emerged right from the start. She comes from a Division II program (Grand Valley State) and is our only player with DII experience, so she 'gets it,' has done this before and provides our ladies with a lot of direction for off the field stuff such as how to act what to do as a student-athlete. She's had great captains to learn from early in her career, and it shows."
 
"Sara's a great captain because she is at the same level in many different respects as a majority of our team being freshmen, so we have leadership representing the majority of where our team's at. She works hard, is always trying to improve and puts the team needs ahead of her own. But her best captain quality is her attitude and overall positivity throughout all of our trainings."
 
MEET THE TEAM: LINEUP SPOTS STILL UP FOR GRABS
With a team so close in age proximity and experience combined with a roster full of players who haven't played together, developing lineup cohesion has been a work in progress throughout the offseason and something that could still see fluctuation throughout the season's early going.
 
"The exhibition game opened up a lot to see how our girls would perform on the main stage, where the nerves were and who was able to overcome their nerves and produce. We saw some strong leadership emerge and we also saw a ton of potential in so many others. Generally speaking we have a good idea of our lineup but we still have a slot or two in each position that the players are still competing for."
 
Another key piece for Dunnigan and her staff is to find players who have the versatility to produce in multiple positions and roles to maximize the shorter bench in year one of the program.
 
"We enter the season almost 100 percent healthy and we're eager to maintain that with our intentionally short bench in our first year. We want to get our girls healthy and then keep them there."
 
MEET THE TEAM: DEFENSE
Concordia's style is to create errors of omission on the attack in that they'll look to make the right decisions defensively to force an opponent into making poor decisions. The goal of the team's mindset isn't necessarily to force impact turnovers, but  rather to limit an opponent's strong scoring chances and then to hold them to just a single shot on each attack.

"We're going to be an aggressive defense, but not necessarily in the traditional way of thinking in that we aren't going to be opportunistic or look to force a ton of turnovers. Our goal is to limit scoring chances by having our defenders stick to their assignments, do their jobs and force the attack into bad decisions."
 
"We have our different sets and systems for whatever the situation calls for, but we're an aggressive defense and I'm excited to see us challenged by a high-powered attack," said Dunnigan.
 
The cage will be protected by freshman Katie Lottsfeldt, a decorated prep goalie from Stillwater Area High School with a strong state tournament pedigree.
 
"Lotts…wow, what a phenomenal goalie. She's dynamic and aggressive in and out of the crease and she's that eighth defender that we can't wait to get our systems set, explode and shut teams down with her."
 
With only one goalie recruited to the inaugural roster, Lottsfeldt will be backed up by Kylie Christensen who's put in the time necessary to be ready to step in if necessary.
 
The group in front of Lottsfeldt will look to make the goalie's job easier, and Dunnigan notes that the group features a versatile set of strengths which provides a nice compliment when working as a unit.
 
"We have five defenders for four spots so we'll see a constant rotation. Cassidy Leininger is versatile and can step in the midfield role and be utilized if the situation calls for it and Sara Stickler is a great one-on-one defender and great with matchups. Brooke Genzler comes up with monster turnovers and big interceptions that are needed at big spots in games and Kylie Christensen is a great overall defender that we can trust in any of the roles, she likes to look downfield and get the ball moving."
 
In the exhibition, Genzler, Leininger and Stickler earned the starts with Christensen seeing plenty of looks throughout the contest. Genzler's four ground balls and three draw controls led the defensive unit while Leininger produced a pair of caused turnovers.
 
MEET THE TEAM: MIDFIELD
"Our midfield unit is far and away the most dynamic group, we can count on them anywhere. They're great stickhandlers, they have amazing speed and most importantly they're gritty players who fight for the ball every time, whether its in the air or on the ground," exclaimed Dunnigan.
 
Depth in the midfield is also playing out to be a strength in the early going. "We have such a strong unit and there's only three of them on the field so it's something our staff is working through various scenarios to keep all midfielders engaged and making a team impact throughout the game."
 
Four midfielders started the exhibition game against the Gophers with Kailey Heinl doing the most damage statistically with five goals on seven shots, adding five ground balls, five caused turnovers and three draw controls.
 
"Kailey is an animal, she's everywhere on the field. Whenever that ball is on the ground she's either right there or she's on her way and coming up with that ball. Opponents who find themselves matched up with Kailey will need to minimize their mistakes because Heinl is sure to expose even the slightest misstep."
 
The teams only "upperclassmen" also reside in the midfield, sophomore Sheala Osborne and junior Kallie LaValle. Osborne netted a pair of goals, had three ground balls, three caused turnovers and three draw controls in the exhibition while LaValle had a goal, four assists and three draw controls.
 
"Osborne is super quick, really good with the ball on the ground and has her head up looking for the next opportunity right away. Kallie is our eldest player and that really shows through with her play and style. She's smart, doesn't force it, knows when and where to be and most importantly she knows why she needs to be somewhere. She's consistent with the ball, and does a great job on the draw."
 
The other midfielder to start in the exhibition was Katie Moynihan, who Dunnigan describes as "probably the rock and most consistent performer in the group. She may not rack up the stats but she'll be in every play and is a huge impact player. It would be tougher for us to be effective if she's not out there."
 
While she didn't start the exhibition, Tyra Swanson made an impact with a pair of ground balls off the bench and "has speed for days," according to Dunnigan. "We've seen her come into her own throughout the preseason and found a lot of success in the exhibition. She executed and we're excited because that further deepens our midfield looks."
 
A midseason addition at the semester break from Canada, Kara Nickle has also persisted through injuries while acclimating to the club at an accelerated pace. "Despite missing time with injury and coming in at the semester break, we're really pleased with Kara's progress and she's fitting into our systems well. The more she gets acclimated with the team, the more it comes together on the field and we look for her to explode as a player once she has more game time under her belt."
 
MEET THE TEAM: ATTACK
Assistant coaches Aime Caines and Emily Roussel have worked closest on the attack, led by Caines as offensive coordinator. The Golden Bears will look to slow the offense down and see the open looks when they are present while not forcing anything.
 
"We're naturally a fast-paced team, so we want to be able to have the ability to slow it down because the fast pace won't be sustainable throughout a season or even throughout the course of a game. Our goal is to be most effective at playing within our attack systems at a steadier pace, and use the fast pace situationally when appropriate."
 
Like the defense, the attack features a mix of players that have specialties within the unit that complement each other to provide a dynamic position group.
 
In the exhibition, it was Alina Boyce who stole the show with a seven goal breakout performance, adding an assist for an eight point game.
 
"Alina is really quick and good when dodging one-on-one with a defender. She can find open space in tight spots to get quality shots off, she's done a really good job getting around defenders and getting her hands free. She's progressed a lot throughout the year, showing more versatility than we had anticipated early in the fall."
 
The other two players to start on the attack against Minnesota were Maya Hernandez and Kaci Reid, who each produced a goal with Reid adding an assist.
 
"Kaci is getting up there for being one of our smartest attackers and really understands the game flow and our systems. She's smart with the ball, doesn't force it with feeds or drives to the cage and is able to make sound decisions under pressure."
 
"Maya has developed and fought her way up the lineup and claimed a spot in some of our top attack ranks. She was another player we saw with a ton of growth through fall and winter and she looks like she has good hands and looks to the middle of the field, always ready to make a play."
 
Another player on the mend and slowed in the preseason and offseason by injury is Maddie Hentges, who didn't compete in the exhibition tilt but was a producer in the fall.
 
"Maddie had a phenomenal fall, she's one of our most explosive attackers and it's great to get her back up to full speed. She'll have to work back into it, but is a phenomenal outside shooter and once we fine tune some things we think she's going to be great. We missed her – a lot!"
 
Three other players came off the bench on the attack in the Gopher preseason game, Sidney Schreiner, Riley Burns and Katie O'Brien. "Sidney is one of our lefties who really helps us from X behind the cage and does a really good job at finding that space, pulling her defender and seeing the space in the attack where it opens up and really developed a lot through the fall."
 
Schreiner netted a pair of goals and an assist in the exhibition win.
 
Joining Kara Nickle as a mid-year addition is Riley Burns and her addition to the team has been eased as a high school teammate of Heinl. "They connect well which has helped her with a fast transition into the systems. She's found herself a nice home. Although we have things to fine tune, expected in her abbreviated time with the program, she will continue to find her role in the attack."
 
Rounding out the attack is Katie O'Brien, "Katie is a player who I place trust in that she won't make mistakes or force the ball. She works the ball around and we like how she gets her teammates involved in the attack."