It was a decade ago when United Women’s Lacrosse, the first pro women’s lacrosse league, began play.
One of the most vivid memories of watching our first UWLX game at St. Joseph’s University in the summer of 2016 was a confrontation in the fan in a game between the Philadelphia Force and the Baltimore Ride. On the play, Kara Mupo of the Force was absolutely decked by a defender for Baltimore.
No whistle. Lots of “oohs” from the sideline. And a message was sent: the officials will let the players decide the game.
There has been increasing physicality in the game of women’s lacrosse over the years, including an incident in a game between Yale and Stony Brook which resulted in a player being hospitalized with a rupture of an internal organ.
And then, there was a collision this evening on the floor of SECU Stadium in College Park, when Northwestern’s Madison Smith, on the dead run chasing down the ball in transition, ran into Maryland’s Lauren LaPointe, who had slowed down with her teammate having gotten the ball into the attacking third.
The replay angle shown appeared to indicate that Smith did not make the effort to avoid colliding into her opponent, and the Maryland bench and supporters were outraged.
Amazingly, the game officials did not address the collision with a video review; apparently, off-ball collisions are something that cannot be reviewed.
But this incident is not going to help the majority of lacrosse people who want the game played safely and without protective helmets.