ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — The second season of Griffon Lacrosse arrives soon, starting a new chain in command with Jessica Berg taking control as the interim head coach for this Friday's matchup with Concordia-St. Paul.

Bringing Back some Strong Sticks

Coach Berg's 2022 squad brings back 13 players from MWSU's inaugural 5-8 season. Four of them earned All-GLVC honors: Madison Brady (2nd); Mackenzie Porter (2nd); Jazmine Servance (HM); and Mariyah Harper (HM). The Griffons also welcome 15 new members who Coach Berg believes can make immediate impacts.

"We also have a ton of transfers, who also add in a bunch of experience," Berg said. "We're a second-year program, but we're really at the skill level of a five-year program, which is really fun to be a part of."

Brady comes back to MWSU for her sophomore year after leading the team last year with 62 points, good for 4.77 per game, the fourth most in the GLVC. Porter placed second in saves last season with 136, and she had the third-highest-save-percentage at .452. On top of that, Porter finished second in average saves per game with 10.46.

Second Season Notches a New Look

The Griffons went 3-4 in conference play while finishing in fifth place in GLVC last season. This year's preseason poll places MWSU at fifth once again with 28 points, putting reigning national champion Lindenwood at the No. 1 spot with 47 points. With a new head honcho and plenty of fresh faces, Coach Berg says this squad isn't the same one those may remember from last season. 

"It's almost like a brand-new team," Berg said. We're still building that culture that we want to have at Missouri Western and getting a lot of new faces."

United and Unique 

Coach Berg says her team feels unique MWSU Lacrosse as the only team on campus that competes in the GLVC. With that special feeling creates that culture Coach Berg is confident will help her program stand out.

"I would say they do have quite a bit of unity," Berg said. "You wouldn't really be able to pick out of a crowd; which ones are the transfers or which ones were the returners from last year, which I think is really special."

Exit the Exhibition, Enter the Competition

Missouri Western has worked its way through the first exhibition games in furious fashion — defeating Benedictine College 22-10 and Ottawa University 15-5. Thanks to solid warmup, Coach Berg's squad feels set and squared away to start 2022 right.

"​​We do have a lot of people looking for almost like that redemption tour," Berg said. "Some of them transferred here just because they wanted to help build that culture and help be a part of making history in a new program instead of going to one that has already been established."

This Friday's game vs. Concordia-St. Paul (2-2) is slated for a 6 p.m. start time under in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Golden Bears played tough in a 10-9 loss against No. 9 Regis to begin the season and played No. 1 Lindenwood to a 20-13 defeat. Even though Missouri Western hasn't played any games like the Concordia-St. Paul has, Coach Berg sees this benefiting her Griffons in a way.

"A blessing and a curse where they get to adjust their play style by seeing us play against other teams where we do see them play and scout them a little bit more, because we have more video on them," Coach Berg said. "They don't have a lot of film on us. Just getting that first win, reducing the amount of turnovers is a big focus that I have as a coach. And then honestly just having fun, because that's the whole point of playing lacrosse is to have fun."
 

2022 GLVC WOMEN'S LACROSSE PRESEASON POLL