Ethan Magoc photo: Senior Kim Masterton is putting all the extra work to good use, leading the women’s lacrosse team with 53 goals and 76 total points.Breaks are a time for everyone to go home and relax and see family and friends, as well as get away from college. For everyone, that is, except athletes.

Every team has a time during the year when they miss out on a break. This means staying around on a quiet campus, practicing and preparing for an upcoming game or tournament.

Women’s lacrosse just experienced this with Easter as they had a game on Saturday, which they won, 12-11, against Indiana (Pa.). Kimberly Masterton, a senior on the lacrosse team, has never experienced a spring break in the four years she has been here.

This, though, doesn’t bother her.

“It doesn’t make a difference to me that we never have spring break because of lacrosse,” Masterton said.

The main reason for this is that the team is very close, and they can do what they want on spring break after their college years are past.

“It’s a good experience and many memories–good and bad–have come out of team spring break trips,” Masterton said.

Masterton also thinks athletes understand that missing breaks is essential to success.

“There is so much preparation that needs to happen in order to get ready for the upcoming season or game, and we need all the time we can get, whether we want it or not,” Masterton said.

Men’s soccer player Oliver Gage, agrees that the preparation required warrants missing out on breaks. The soccer team comes in around two to three weeks before fall term begins, missing the last few weeks of summer.

“I like coming in early. We train twice a day with all the boys, which is great fun, meet all the new players, and it’s a good way to get ready for the season because there are no distractions,” said Gage, a graduate student.

During fall preseason, although the team is only training twice a day, there is not really much free time.

It doesn’t matter the campus is empty.

“Whenever we’re not training, we’re either sleeping or eating. It’s all about preparing properly for the next session,” Gage said.