TicketsMay 14, 2008
This article was published in the April 19 edition of the Bearcat Sports Digest. For more information or for ordering, please contact ISP sports subscription manager Amanda Vellucci at 1-888-877-3473.
By JOSH KATZOWITZ
Lindsey Marshall has had three lacrosse coaches in the past four years, and before she transferred to the University of Cincinnati, she exclusively played defense in college.
But as her junior season has continued, Marshall has transformed her game, and she's continued to adapt to her new role as a team captain. In the meantime, she's still figuring out how the members of this team work with each other and the coaching staff that should be at UC for a while.
Maybe the Bearcats aren't as successful as they hoped to be in their inaugural season, but Marshall has seen the positives.
"This team has been amazing as far as team chemistry," said Marshall, a Hilliard, Ohio, native. "I took for granted at my former school knowing how people were playing and expecting people in certain places. Trying to learn peoples' habits, what works for them and what doesn't -- that has been kind of a challenge. We're getting used to each other."
Marshall also continues to get used to her new role.
While at Ohio University, Marshall was a defender (she scored only three goals as a Bobcat sophomore), but UC coach Lellie Swords needed her aggressiveness on offense. Although she had not played midfield since high school, Marshall agreed to the task and changed her role on the field.
"It's still kind of weird," she said. "My only experience on offense had been in high school, and it's a different type of game than in college. My sophomore year at OU, I played a little bit of offense. It was more about keeping your defender moving. I didn't ask for the ball or anything. Now, I'm figuring out where players should be and when I should be open. It's been a rough transition, just getting used to where I should be."
But she has succeeded in becoming a force on offense for the Bearcats. Through UC's first 13 games of the season, she had scored a team-leading 24 goals. But she also has had to change the way she views herself as a team leader.
At the beginning of the season, she talked about playing the role of a coach while on the field, but lately she's shrunk back a little from that position.
"I felt like I was more dictating on the field than being able to play. I was yelling at everyone," Marshall said. "I kind of realized that I can't play for everyone. I took a step back and trusted that people are going to learn on their own. They need to make their own moves and learn what works for them.
"It's still neat that people look to me and see me as a go-to person on the field. I like the feeling that they can rely on me. But there's also a lot of players on the team who have been stepping up. You know when you're watching a game and you feel comfortable with the people you're watching and sometimes you don't? I feel confident with them."
Not that she minds the leadership position. Clearly, she enjoys being seen as a team leader.
"I've been put in a leadership position since my sophomore year," Marshall said. "I'm kind of used to being in the responsibility role. It's kind of exciting, actually, because I feel like I'm in a utilized role."
Said Swords: "She's a leader everywhere she is on the field. She can go to the cage, and she has a great shot. Her hard work carries over, and it's infectious."
Marshall only hopes that hard work will continue to impress a coach who likely will be at UC next year. So far in Marshall's career, that stability from her coaches hasn't happened.
"It has been really weird, especially on defense," Marshall said. "For whatever a coach values, the concepts can be completely different -- how you should watch the ball, where you should be standing, how you should be communicating with teammates. It was hard my second coach transition. When it was my third time, I was open to suggestions. It also has kept me on my toes, and it's exciting that I keep getting to learn stuff. You'd think I would have learned everything by now, but because I've had so many different coaches, I have so many different views."