Rams learning on the fly with Cornell women’s lacrosse

MOUNT VERNON – When Meredith Merce arrived on the Cornell College campus in October as women's lacrosse coach, she found just four returning players waiting for her.

With the help of the athletic administration, Merce creatively scoured the other campus sports in search of athletes for the second-year program.

'It is such a different sport than other sports,” said Merce, who leads the Rams (1-13, 1-7 Midwest Lacrosse Conference) into their season finale against Augsburg at Ash Park Friday at 6 p.m. 'We kind of take into consideration their sport and if we can, relate it to lacrosse.”

One seemingly-unlikely participant was freshman Lexi Dettbarn, who worked in the Cornell sports information department compiling statistics while studying pre-law and participating on the mock trial team. A four-sport athlete (basketball, softball, golf and volleyball) at MFL MarMac in northeast Iowa, Dettbarn was always used to being in a sport, so the prospect of lending her abilities to the program made sense.

'I liked being able to help out,” Dettbarn said. 'It's a new program and I wanted to give it something by being there. I didn't have to be good to just help them.”

But Dettbarn has been good. The 5-foot-8 attacker has started 13 games and is fifth on the team with 22 ground balls – a loose ball picked up with the crosse from the ground. While sophomore Sydney Cooper has been the scoring force for the Rams (51 goals in two seasons), players like Dettbarn have incorporated defensive philosophies from sports like basketball – setting screens and picks – and applied them to lacrosse.

'I'm generally a pretty aggressive person,” Dettbarn said. 'So for me to dive for a ball or go after a ball is normal for me and I know it's something I can pick up a lot faster.”

Two Cornell volleyball players with Iowa ties – senior Katherine Thompson (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) and freshman Caitlin Kruckenberg (Vinton-Shellsburg) – also agreed to join the team. Thompson started seven games this season, while Kruckenberg is expected to return next season once fully healthy.

Grasping some of the nuances and unique rules of the game have provided the newcomers with their largest learning hurdles.

'Getting the feel for the game and having game-like experience is definitely where we struggle,” Merce said. 'But all of them have had a year under their belt now, so we're excited for next year.”

Optimism was only heightened after the Rams collected their first conference win Saturday with a 7-5 home triumph over Concordia Chicago.

'It was huge,” Merce said. 'The girls are very excited, so that's just one under our belt and next year we're looking for more.”

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