Feb. 29, 2004

Our loss against Notre Dame represents the first major challenge to our teams goal of playing with integrity. Integrity for Stanford Lacrosse means narrowing the gap between what you say and what you do and unfortunately, on Sunday afternoon, all the motivational words we had conjured in the locker room failed to manifest themselves on the field. At the same time that we seemed to stumble, Notre Dame came out fired up to play. They responded to our hesitancy with undying energy and connected play. While many individual players displayed valiant efforts to inspire the unity and heart usually inherent in our play and love of the game, the final score reflected our team's inability to reconnect on the field.

At the end of the game, teammates' faces were pained with confused disappointment. However, setbacks and apparent failures are necessary for true growth and comprise an intricate, inseparable part in the journey towards champion play. Sunday's game provided an opportunity for valuable individual and team reflection for both coaches and players and I cannot wait to take to the practice field fully prepared to take the next step together.

- Anthea Tjuanakis