It’s fast, it’s physical, and you won’t learn about it during Sex Week. It’s women’s lacrosse and it’s unique at Northwestern for one big reason - our team is good…really good. What, didn’t you hear? How about how our lacrosse team is ranked #1 in the nation? Were you aware they are the two-time defending national champions, and what’s more, lacrosse is one of the most exciting sports on campus no one cares about? You didn’t? In that case, prepare to be educated.

Lacrosse is a very strange game to most people, which in turn leads to much confusion surrounding it and, as result, few fans and an underappreciated team. Truth be told, lacrosse isn’t very complex, as it combines elements from other more mainstream sports to create a dynamic, high energy and high impact physical game.

These are the basics of women’s lacrosse at the collegiate level: the game is played on a field similar in dimensions to a standard football field (about 100 x 70 yards.) Goals are located at either end of the field with 10-20 yard spaces between the goal and the end line. Twelve players are allowed on the field per squad, and substitutes are made on the fly – there is no stoppage of game to allow for the exchange of participants.

Each half lasts thirty minutes, so you don’t have to dedicate three hours to watching a match. Play begins after a half or a goal with what is called a draw, which is when two players from opposing teams hold the ball in the air between the pockets of their sticks and then, at the referee’s signal, the ball is flung into the air and subsequently fought over. Speaking of the actual sticks, all women’s lacrosse sticks must be between 35.5 and 48 inches long (so no 6 foot defense sticks like you see in men’s lacrosse) and the pockets of said sticks are dramatically shallower than that of the men’s sticks. Anyone who has tried to catch a ball with a women’s stick knows it’s easier to catch a cold than a small rubber lacrosse ball, yet these girls manage to whip that ball around at top speed and with expert precision.

Women’s lacrosse can be far more entertaining to watch than the men’s game. The rules do not allow any stick or body checking, so the savage swipes and hits of the men’s game are absent. What is allowed are controlled checks on the crosse (the pocket) of the opponent’s stick. This makes for an experience emphasizing accuracy and finesse, particularly on the defensive end where defenders must be quick and clever in how they defend. Lacrosse is at its heart an inherently offensively minded sport. As is evidenced by the margin of victory for Northwestern over the last two games (17-5 over Duke and 22-8 over Cal), it is not unusual for teams to reach double-digits in scoring. The flipside of this is the teams able to play effective defense (NU is #1 in scoring defense, allowing fewer than 6 goals per a game) are the most successful squads.

Those who witnessed the dominant NU women’s lacrosse team’s 22-8 white-washing of the University of California Bears last Monday realized somewhere in between senior midfielder Kristen Kjellman’s sparkling goal that came in the game’s first 30 seconds and sophomore midfielder Casey Donohoe’s incredible catch and shot in traffic during the final seconds this is a team worth watching.

Yes, the weather is cold. Sure, the bleachers are uncovered, small and fairly uncomfortable. If one is willing to brave the elements for the sake of supporting our team and perhaps broadening his or her sports horizon, one might find something truly galvanizing about this sport. If people are willing to brave the cold to watch the football team get wiped out at home by Ohio State, surely there can be some support for the one of the most successful programs at this school. Will a third championship in a row be enough to produce a fan base? At the rate this team is going, the answer to that question may be forthcoming.