“I’m so excited and honored that I have been given the opportunity to be the first head coach of the new women’s lacrosse team here at UT,” said Gallagher. “I just cannot wait to build this program.”
Since the team is brand new at the University of Tampa, Gallagher is traveling and recruiting for more prospective players for the Spartan team. Just recently, Gallagher went to a big lacrosse tournament in Ohio where there were schools from all over the Ohio-Pennsylvania area competing.
“We are recruiting like crazy right now so we can get more girls involved on the team,” said Gallagher. “We are doing whatever we can to get the news of the new program out in the open and trying to bring the best possible recruits to see campus. We already have a possible solid number of incoming freshmen ready to play, but we are also looking at possible college transfer players and players who are in Junior College too.”
Even with all the possible new recruits coming in next year, the Spartan team already has some players like Maggie Griffo (sister of Deep South Conference player of the year and fellow Spartan Greg Griffo) that are really excited for the development of this new team.
“I’m very excited for the new team and it is so great to see that there are so many other people excited like the Mayor,” said Griffo. “It’s great to be a part of a new program and start a new tradition at UT.”
With all of the excitement of the program growing already, and a strong competition lined up for next spring, Gallagher is preparing the girls for what is to be expected next year.
Knowing the team is already showing promise, Griffo thinks that it would be an awesome accomplishment to get some quality wins during the season.
“Coach Kelly recruited a lot of good talent for next year so I think it would be a great accomplishment as a first year team to beat some of the better division two teams,” said Griffo.
Even though there are things that the team wants to accomplish next year, Gallagher does not have any specific goals for the team yet.
“Of course it would be awesome to win, I love to win, but I’m being realistic,” said Gallagher. “As long as we take steps forward and we play strong I think we will have a great season.”
Paige Shallcross can be reached at paige.shallcross@spartans.ut.edu.