College Crosse Prospectus: Q&A With Cascade Lacrosse, Cleveland State’s Buzz

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WHAT YOU MISSED

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LACROSSE THE NATION

With the introduction of their new Women’s LX headpiece, Inside Lacrosse’s Halley Quiillian spoke with Jenna Abelli about the product.

ILWomen: What advantage did Cascade’s knowledge of developing men’s helmets — and in Bauer’s case, hockey helmets — give you in developing this piece of women’s lacrosse headgear?

Abelli: Our product is an integrated system, so the goggle and the headgear are one piece. Coming from men’s [lacrosse] and hockey, where you have that one-piece system, we felt like an integrated system would be a lot easier for the players and would also be more comfortable. When we looked at how the integrated goggle could fit with the headgear, I think a lot of that technology and knowledge on the facemask were used, as well as using Poron XRD, a foam that we use across all of our product lines.

ILWomen: Unlike your men’s headgear products, this product does not have a hard shell. In fact, its exterior is very flexible, soft. Why was that such an important emphasis in creating this product?

Abelli: The flexible yet firm outer shell was important for a couple of reasons. First, the standard mandated a certain flexibility. That said, we really wanted to make sure that girls were offered the same customization opportunities that are in the men’s game. In our focus groups, we found that the idea of having a team look, and having numbers and personalization, was really important to girls. However, one of the downsides to a foam outer surface — another option that could’ve been available — is that it’s going to get dirty easier, it’s going to soak up water and rain.

We wanted to keep it light, keep it sleek.

They haven’t played a regular season game, but Cleveland State is generating mad buzz. Patrick Stevens for US Lacrosse Magazine has more.

"It's incredible, to get the Dukes, Denvers, the Penn States, Michigans and Ohio States," [Dylan] Sheridan said. "That's great from the standpoint of getting some buzz and some interest. There were schools we reached out to that understood it and wanted to give us a shot. I can tell you we have 15 or 16 games, and there were about 50 no's. There's a lot of teams that we would've loved to play that either didn't return the call or didn't see it to be in their interest."

Sheridan doesn't begrudge those programs, which can schedule as they see fit. But that's just one of several factors Cleveland State must navigate.

The most obvious is building a roster. Of the Vikings' 33 players, 31 are freshmen, with a sophomore and a junior added from the junior college ranks.

That group comes from 16 states in addition to British Columbia, an early indication of how Sheridan will recruit. While the financial advantages of in-state tuition ensure the Vikings can attract solid talent from Ohio, Sheridan is clearly following the blueprint of his previous west-of-the-Appalachians experience.

"I'm using my experience at Denver quite a bit, building from a nontraditional area," Sheridan said. "Our next group has nine states and another province of Canada represented. We're going to build a geographically diverse program. It's reflective of the city, and it's our best route to being competitive at a national level."

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