Coaches: Keep Helmets Out of Women's Lacrosse

As debates rage across the sporting world about how to better protect athletes from traumatic head injuries, women’s lacrosse coaches at Catonsville colleges are unified of opinion: leave their game alone.

Women’s lacrosse players at all levels do not wear helmets, with the exception of the goalkeeper, though players in the men’s game are required to.

That’s fine with coaches at UMBC and CCBC Catonsville.

“That’s not our game,” said Retrievers coach Kelly Berger, who was a midfielder at James Madison.

“I’ve been playing this game quite a while and I just think it would change the game. It would make it more physical. It’s a different game [than men’s lacrosse].”

Berger said it's okay for the games to be different. While men’s lacrosse is more akin to ice hockey or football in its physicality, she said women’s lacrosse is a “fast, finesse game.”

Adding helmets would change the strategy of the game, she said, because players would be more willing to lean into a play or initiate contact, knowing a helmet protects their head.

Cardinals coach Tom Taylor agreed with Berger. If anything, he said, he’d rather see better gloves manufactured for his players. He said hand injuries as a result of getting hit with a stick have been far more prevalent than head injuries in his 25-year coaching career.

“The people who want to put helmets on females are those who really do not know much about women’s lacrosse,” Taylor said.

Local players don’t want helmets either. UMBC senior attack Erika Braerman said when players were forced to begin wearing goggles, it made the game much more aggressive.

While she thinks the goggle mandate is a good one, adding helmets would make the game too physical, she said.

“It will take away the uniqueness,” Braerman said. Besides, “there’s concussions in every sport,” regardless of whether or not the athletes wear some type of head gear. That point wasn’t lost on Berger, either.

“Men’s lacrosse, football, they have concussions with helmets on,” Berger said. “I don’t think that’s the answer.”

Many coaches and players nationwide agree with those in Catonsville. A story in The New York Times last week examined the careful balance between ensuring safety and maintaining the game’s integrity.

Now, to this week’s list:

Quote of the Week

“I’ve been through so much since I’ve been here. I’ve been through a conference change, you know, we went to two finals, we’ve won a championship, we’ve won four games in a year. To me, we’ve been given a lot of resources and we’ve used those resources to build our program over the last couple years after the championship. We capitalized on our championship by getting Erin Brown, Michelle Kurowski and Tope’ Obajolu.”

– UMBC women’s basketball coach Phil Stern on his tenure as coach of the Retrievers, and the program’s ability to take advantage of its NCAA Tournament appearance in 2007.

Line of the Week

Eight and three: The men's swimming and diving team won its eighth straight America East Conference title on Sunday. The women won their third championship since joining the AEC.

Top Tweet

“WBB: #UMBC can finish no lower than third in the @AmericaEast standings, clinching its highest seed ever in 8 seasons in the league”

-- @UMBCAthletics, after the Retrievers women’s basketball team came back to beat Hartford 53-48 Sunday.

For the Record

UMBC basketball forward Justin Fry set a Retrievers Division I record by becoming the first player in program history to record 20 points and 20 rebounds in the same game in a 64-57 loss to Hartford. The 20 points tied Fry's career high, and the 20 rebounds were also a career high for the senior.

Player to Watch

UMBC lacrosse goalkeeper Brian McCullough made six saves but allowed ten goals in the Retrievers’ 16-10, season-opening win over Presbyterian, and faces a much tougher challenge when the team faces Rutgers on Saturday at UMBC Stadium.

Game to Watch

UMBC women’s basketball plays Albany at RAC Arena Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. A Retriever win clinches the America East Conference’s regular season title and earns UMBC an automatic bid to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.