McCarver brings years of personal experience to the Colonels

The women’s lacrosse team has a new sheriff in town as Amber McCarver has taken over the reins as head coach.

McCarver is already implementing new plans of action to get the Colonels more cohesive for the upcoming season.

“You can not really fix teamwork with a drill,” said McCarver. “I am really hoping that we can just get people working together with different girls on the team that they do not normally hang out with outside of practice. I hope to do more team bonding outside of practice as soon as I settle in a bit more.”

McCarver’s early implementation of teamwork stems from her long-time relationship with the sport.

For her first semester of college, she attended LaSalle University to play Division I lacrosse before making. the decision to transfer to Penn State to finish her first year of school. 

She finished her last three years of college at Messiah University while continuing to play lacrosse.

At Messiah, McCarver played as a goalie and finished her playing career ranking within the top seven in both minutes played and saves at the University. 

“Along with being a goalie, you work as a cohesive unit with the defense so she understands how that should be happening and what the defense should be doing to make that work,” said senior midfielder Laura Bayzick. “The attackers and midfielders are benefiting because she is teaching us all the different angles that we can shoot at, that would be hard for a goalie to save quickly.”

Despite her prestigious play at Messiah, McCarver did not focus on her individual statistics but rather the qualities that she learned of being a part of a team. 

“What I have seen in the first week that I have been here is that there is a lot of talent on the team,” said McCarver. “They do not really work together as a team quite yet. I am hoping that we can really tap into that talent and develop a sense of unity and create a united front as a team.”

Within her first week of being the Colonels head coach, McCarver got the chance to meet her squadron and began creating relationships with them—which she views as the cornerstone to success. 

“Coach McCarver has joined the team as if she has been here this whole time,” said senior attacker Camryn Devitt. “She truly cares about the development of this team and is always looking to develop closer connections with each of the players. McCarver is a very knowledgeable lacrosse player with a great lacrosse IQ and has been a great addition to the team.”

McCarver stated that when she was first introduced to her players, she was met with eager minds ready to learn from a former player with a wide array of experience. 

“I believe her past lacrosse experience will benefit our team in a number of ways,” said Bayzick. “She went to a great college which has a very good lacrosse program and was a goalie there so that already benefits our team’s goalies.”

McCarver began her duties as coach on Jan. 26, and will coach her first game on March 30 as the Colonels play their first matchup of the season at Delaware Valley University.