The Auburn Women's Lacrosse club hosted Clemson and Georgia Tech Saturday for its annual parents weekend. "I thought this parents weekend was the best one yet," said junior defender Carly Williams. "We try to schedule Clemson on parents weekend every year because it is always close competition and having our biggest fans there to support us pumps us up." The women defeated Clemson, 14-13, but fell to Georgia Tech in the final minutes, 12-11. "The victory over Clemson was huge for our team," said junior goalie Stacie Busbin. "We started the season off slow, but as a team we have really turned it around. Throughout the past two weeks the team has truly come together and worked hard for the Clemson game. In our previous meeting against each other (in the fall), we lost by a couple of goals. We made it our goal to win when we faced them in the spring." The Tigers don't have a coach, so they rely on each other and on their senior co-captains, center Elizabeth Boyd and defender Meredith Noulis to coach them. Boyd and Noulis are starters and key players and are forced to coach from the field. "I wish we would have beat Georgia Tech, but I think as a team we handled it to the best of our abilities," said sophomore midfielder Alex Nalepa. "I think if we had a coach things would have been a lot different. Maybe next year we will have one and we will win the entire division." Another circumstance the Tigers overcame this weekend was controversial refereeing. Players from all three teams, parents and fans were visibly upset at the majority of the calls and the demeanor of the referees. The referees went so far as to throw out Nalepa's father, who traveled from Maryland to be there.
"My dad got thrown out of the game for saying, 'Are you just going to give them the game? This is unbelievable!'" Nalepa said. "It was a bad call and all the fans started yelling. The way this was handled was not right." Nalepa said in similar situations, the referees usually give out a warning before ejecting anyone. "During halftime after the whole situation with the refs, we talked about how we couldn't control the bad calls and we just had to go out there and play like Auburn--with class," Williams said. "I'm proud that Auburn didn't play to the level of some others teams I've seen." The Tigers said they are excited for spring break to relax and condition for their last game of the season against Samford April 9. "This season the team has worked very hard both on and off the field," Busbin said. "The past few wins have been huge for us. We hope to finish the season off strong with another win against Samford."
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