D’artagnan Johnson, contributor

Last year, the Auggies Womens Lacrosse team had a season of improvement from the miserable and winless 2022 season. The team went 4-12 and was able to make a total of 147 goals to their opponents 268. Last season’s conference wins were against Monmouth College and Wartburg College. So far in the 2024 season, the Auggies hold a solid 1-2 record and have started with a better winning percentage than in the previous two seasons. Just recently, the season took a turn with a win against Lewis & Clark College that came down to the wire.

Interim Head Coach Mikayla Knudson was hired just before the start of 2024 and already has a lot of respect from her players. However, Knudson isn’t new to the program. She served as an Assistant Coach for two years prior in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Like most of the coaches here at Augsburg, Knudson is an Auggie alum and was a four-year player for the lacrosse team. One of her proudest accomplishments at Augsburg was her MWLC second-team all-conference honor in 2021.

Besides the leadership of the new coach, there are plenty of players to keep an eye on. The biggest name being sophomore midfielder, Jade Wilson, who currently leads the team and the MWLC in scoring with 13. Six goals came from a dominant performance against Lewis & Clark College. Wilson is currently chasing her second consecutive MWLC first-team all-conference honor. According to a recent interview regarding the Lewis & Clark game, senior Alexa Hoffman remarked  in an interview with the Echo, “The game was super tough as we were a player down that week. I would say our win was due to our team communication coming in strong. Jade Willson was our MVP as she scored six goals but the other girls did well too. Both Jessica, our attack end, and Liliah, our defensive end, made some goals. One of them got their first goal ever here at Augsburg.” 

Hoffman as Team Captain and senior attack/defensive is definitely another player to watch. Hoffman’s season highlight is her solid three goal outing against UW-La Crosse. In 2022, she was named to the MWLC first-team all-conference defense list. One newcomer to watch for this season is sophomore attacker Jessica Paul, a transfer from Northwestern-St. Paul. In her first three games with the Auggies, she has started in all three and contributed five ground balls, three caused turnovers, two goals and an assist. 

Augsburg is back in action on March 6 in the dome covering Edor Nelson field. The Auggies will take on UW-Stout who the Auggies beat 18-7 around the same time last season. When the teams match up, UW-Stout will be playing their second game of the season while the Auggies will be in midseason and playing their fifth game of the season.