Small gestures leave a big impact on sportsmanship

Courtesy of Leilana McKindra, The NCAA News

(October 7, 2009) - When the Division III winners of the NCAA Sportsmanship Award were announced last week, some people may have been surprised to see an entire team among the recipients.

The Fitchburg State women's lacrosse team, however, earned a spot among seven national finalists for two instances of sportsmanship during the 2009 season.

The first was when referees delayed the start of the Falcons' home opener against Southern Maine after determining that the stick of the visiting team's goalie was longer than regulation.

When officials refused to allow the goalie to compete with the non-regulation stick, Fitchburg coach Rick Terrio dispatched assistant coach Rich Murphy to his car for a saw, which the goalie used to cut the stick down to the correct size.

Southern Maine then went on to defeat Fitchburg, 17-13.

"To me, I didn't think it was a big deal," said Terrio, who noted that the goalie's only alternative would have been to play with a regular field stick, which is about a third the size of the goalie stick. "You want to be a good sport and you don't want the other team to play at a disadvantage. They ended up beating us fair and square."

The Falcons faced another difficult situation later in the season against Thomas More. The circumstance again involved the opposing goalkeeper, who in this case had misplaced her stick earlier in the week. The Fitchburg team offered a backup netminder's stick for the match and then registered a 16-2 victory.

Terrio believes the team did the right thing in both cases and hopes his players learned valuable lessons.

"It's important that coaches encourage good sportsmanship with their players, and to encourage it, you have to show it yourself," Terrio said. "I'm proud of my team and my school. I'm thrilled with this award and it's a great accomplishment."