Most collegiate sports have theme nights centered around wearing school colors and invigorating school pride. However, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women’s lacrosse team is using theme nights in unique and creative ways.
This season the team has a full schedule of nights centered around creating community and igniting conversation. These nights include Ho-Chunk Heritage Night (March 11), Alumni and Family Weekend (March 14), the Bird Bowl (April 1), Morgan’s Message Night (April 8), Diversity Equity and Inclusion Night (April 15), Senior Day (April 18) and Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night (April 22).
Inspired by UWL women’s basketball, the lacrosse team wanted to build off the energy created by the basketball team’s theme nights and shine a light on topics worth having a conversation about.
“The women’s basketball team did a diversity equity and inclusion night. I think it was catching on to what other teams were doing and we were thinking that we can also make theme nights to hold space for certain people and honor certain things,” said fourth-year lacrosse player Lydia Spencer.
With Ho-Chunk Heritage night the team hopes to honor the indigenous people’s land on which UWL resides on. Baaga’adowewin, the indigenous roots of lacrosse as a sport, were a staple of this region before colonization. With this year marking the sixth season of women’s lacrosse at UWL, the team hopes to show its respects to the origins of the game by dedicating a night to the Ho-Chunk people.
“I really want to grow lacrosse in this area, especially because it has such a deep indigenous culture to it. I think it’s important we take some time to get out there in the community. I mean we’re the only program, the only sport, the only team in the whole country, that gets to represent the namesake of our sport, our city, and our school,” said women’s lacrosse Head Coach Nick Anagnostis.
Another theme that carries weight is Morgan’s Message night. This night aligns the Morgans Message organization’s goal to spread mental health awareness to athletic communities. Through spreading this message, the team is hoping to use their platform to inspire those around them.
“There are so many mental health issues that can come with being an athlete and having the team be a platform to build off of that message is very impactful for others around us. Hopefully it inspires people to focus on their mental health,” said fourth-year lacrosse player Kara Stay.
In handling some of these deeper topics, the team aims to keep these nights respectful and centered around “conversation starters”.
“We don’t need to go overboard we just need acknowledgement and talking, I think the biggest thing is just creating a conversation starter, that what each of these nights is. My main goal was to present and create conversation by giving everyone a chance to interact,” commented Anagnostis.
Apart from starting conversations, a few of these games hope to establish a longstanding rivalry. Last year was the creation of the Bird Bowl, a battle between the UWL Eagles and the UW-River Falls Falcons. The winning team maintains possession of the rivalry trophy until their next matchup. The Bird Bowl also partners with LaCROSSe Out Cancer raising funds for pediatric cancer research, making the rivalry more than just about winning a trophy.
“The Bird Bowl is such a competitive game and its fun having a trophy that gets passed around our team so that’s a fun night to look forward to,” commented Stay.
Going forward the team hopes that these theme nights can form a lasting tradition at UWL. These nights and causes unite the team beyond just playing lacrosse. Seniors hope that next year’s team can carry the theme nights forward.
“It kind of makes us excited for each game being a different cause and I think that’s something our team will want to continue post senior class graduating…I think it’ll continue to grow and become a bigger and bigger deal,” said Spencer.
More information on the UWL women’s lacrosse team can be found on the UWL athletics website.
