Second-year Ellie Fisher was honored as the Kwik Trip women’s lacrosse player of the week for the week of Feb. 17-23.
Fisher discovered she earned the award through one of her teammates and a text from her coach, Michael Rhodovi.
“I really wasn’t expecting that at all,” Fisher said. “It was very cool and I’m very grateful that I’ve gotten it, especially this early on.”
Fisher had a standout performance on Feb. 22 against Augustana College, netting seven goals and an assist. Fisher’s performance against Augustana was in the Blugold’s second game of the year and Fisher’s second collegiate game.
Fisher, a 2023 graduate of Stillwater High School, decided not to join the team during her first year at UW-Eau Claire.
“After high school, a lot of people feel like they get burnt out,” Fisher said. “I had to just take a year to myself and then I really wanted to jump back into it.”
It’s been an impressive jump for Fisher as she had 10 goals in her first two appearances this year, scoring a hat trick in her collegiate debut against Centre College.
Fisher credits her team and the lacrosse community for welcoming her to the program and helping her with the transition.
“I’m so passionate about lacrosse and I love the game and the people on the team were just absolutely amazing; they’re seriously my best friends,” Fisher said. “They really pushed me back into joining the team and I’m so thankful for that.”
Fisher got to work early against Augustana, scoring three goals before the end of the first period, matching her score total in her debut against Centre College just a week prior. The Blugolds enjoyed an offensive outburst, netting 11 goals in the first period.
Those 11 goals in the first period were good for the second-most goals in a first-period for the Blugolds since 2022, when they started playing four-period matches.
Augustana presented a defense that pressured and forced the Blugolds to play back on the field and challenged them to get past their defense. The Blugolds succeeded by dodging Augustana’s defensive attacks and attacking the net.
Fisher, who is an attacker and plays a low position, likes working around the goalie and finding scoring opportunities close to the net.
“I love rolling around the crease for lacrosse in scoring; that’s something that I usually do,” Fisher said.
Fisher incorporated that offensive approach into her repertoire more as the game went on, finding the back of the net once in the second period before an offensive outburst that saw her score another hat trick in the third period.
Once the final horn signaled the end of the game, the Blugolds walked away with 21 points, which is tied for the fifth-highest goals scored in a game in program history.
Fisher etched her name in the program’s history books as well, with her seven goals tying her for the second-most individual goals in a game.
Fisher’s seven goals were just one shy of the record held by Becky Goetsch, who had eight goals in a game versus Edgewood College on March 3, 2022.
Fisher was reportedly not aware of the record held by Goetsch and didn’t find out she was tied for the second-most until after the match, when she was told the news by the team’s manager and her parents.
“It was really cool hearing that, I was very happy,” Fisher said.
Fisher pointed out the hard work in practice and preparation that went into their game against Augustana.
“I loved how we worked on our plays as a team for this game, we incorporated that into getting so many assists with each other, passing it off, just using each other as picks and running around each other to get open,” Fisher said.
As a team, the Blugolds had 10 assists with seven different Blugolds accounting for an assist.
Fisher and the 2-0 Blugolds next face Edgewood College on Saturday, March 7 at the Sonnentag Center. The Blugolds will look to keep the energy up and start the season 3-0 for the first time since their 2022 season, according to Fisher.
“It’s been really fun getting into the season and being around the girls a lot, and I think that’s really helped build our chemistry and that will help going into our next couple of games,” Fisher said.
Benes can be reached at Beneseh8560@uwec.edu.
