FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood University women’s lacrosse junior standout Lauren Prasnicki/Lexington has been named this week’s Longwood Female Athlete of the Week. She logged a team-best five assists at High Point on March 27 before posting a pair of goals in the squad’s 12-10 comeback victory against William and Mary on March 30. Prasnicki set a new school record with eight assists against Old Dominion on March 20 and currently leads the team with a personal-best 33 total assists so far in 2013. She is first on the team with 49 points this season, as well.
AR: How have you been able to create so many assist situations so far this year?
LP: I contribute it a lot to my assists to my teammates. I’ve always been the player that stands behind the goal and likes to help out others. I guess after two years of playing, vision on the field has just become easier to me. I work well with a lot of girls on my team. Our attack is a very close knit group. I can read them and they can read me. It’s made this year a lot easier and contributed a lot to all of my assists.
AR: Did you do anything differently when you prepared for this season?
LP: Our fall ball was pretty tough. Our new coach has been helping me a lot, though. She’s been able give me a lot of advice, as much as she can. I’ve been listening to that and trying to follow that advice as much as I can and it has really worked.
AR: Do you find yourself giving teammates advice now that you’re an upperclassman?
LP: Yes, I definitely try to. I’m the only junior on the attack and Jamie (Brentlinger) is a senior, so we try to work with the younger ones. We have pretty much three starting freshman. They are very young, but they listen to what we say and take it into account. It’s going very smoothly. You would never guess that those three are freshman by the way they play. All three are just very good.
AR: What is some of the advice that you’ve been giving them?
LP: When they hang their heads, I tell them that they are fine, that they’ll get the next one. When they do well, I’m the first congratulate them. If something has to be changed, we all huddle together and talk about what we have to do. We all give different advice. They are so smart and they listen really well. They don’t doubt me, they just know I have experience and don’t doubt that. The same goes for Jamie.
AR: What are your goals for the rest of the season?
LP: Individually, I’d like to still keep up my assists and I would like to score some more goals. I’m not the best shooter on the team by far, so I’d really like to improve my shooting percentages so I can help my team in that way. As for the team, I’d like for us to still lead the conference in total points scored per game. It is awesome that we have so many individuals that can score. I also want us to win the rest of our conference games. We’ve lost a few, but we only have three more, so I want us to win those. If we can pull away three more victories, we’ll have a very good seeding for the conference tournament.
AR: What is like getting to play in the Big South this year?
LP: It’s nice. It’s nice to have a home and not having to travel as far to play conference opponents. I really like that. It’s also nice to play a lot of new teams that we’ve never had the opportunity to play before. It’s nice to see new faces and new teams. Our whole schedule is different from previously years so I like it.
AR: What is some advice you would give to a young athlete hoping to play Division I?
LP: I would say it is a lot work and a lot of time, but in the end it’s definitely so worth it. I have been playing lacrosse since middle school and I enjoy every minute of it. I love it. It’s fun. Being able to win and be successful make all the hard work you have put in pay off.
AR: Why did you choose Longwood?
LP: I chose Longwood because of the distance from home. It is two hours from home. I love the size and the campus. And on my recruiting visit here, the team was so close knit. We do everything together. We eat, live, travel and do everything together. It hasn’t changed since freshman year. We’ve gone through three different coaches, but yet our team dynamics haven’t changed and we are all so close. I really like that.
AR: What is your favorite Longwood tradition?
LP: I think Chi is kind of neat. The whole history behind Chi just wows me.
AR: Do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions?
LP: I don’t believe in superstitions, so I just go out early and shoot to get warmed up and start thinking about the game. Our locker room is pretty fun before the game. A lot dancing, pumping up and a lot of fun. We try to get loose. But then we know when play time is over and get serious.
AR: Do you have any role models?
LP: Both my brothers are huge role models for me. My little brother plays lacrosse at VMI and he is so hard working with the most positive attitude. He’s the person who has made me into the player I am today. He has contributed a lot. Whenever I’m say ‘I don’t want to do this,’ he’s always there to be push me. He might be a year younger than me, but he’s a lot wiser and really hard working. And then my older brother played football at West Point. He is just an all around awesome guy.
AR: Do you know what you want to do after graduation?
LP: Yes, right now I’m hoping to attend grad school for occupational therapy. I have an internship this summer in a cardiac rehab facility, so we’ll see how I feel after I do that. Definitely want to go south, though.
