Hard work in summer pays off in spring

Focused on leading her lacrosse team this season, Centennial junior Michaela Schwartz scored seven goals in the Cougars' season-opening victory over rival Mounds View.

A hip flexor injury in Game 2, while limiting Schwartz on the field, did not diminish her leadership. Ignoring her chiropractor's advise to take some time off, Schwartz scored four goals in an overtime victory over Armstrong.

The Cougars entered this week with a 4-0 record, and Schwartz hoped to be back at full strength.

She spoke with Star Tribune reporter David La Vaque about what she's learned from the injury, her team's undefeated start and why her teammates don't like to sit by her on the bench.

Q Mounds View beat your team in the playoffs last season. Were you personally looking to rise to the occasion in the first game this spring?

A Not really. It was just exciting because it was the first game. I really improved a lot over the summer so I kind of wanted to prove to myself and coach that I belonged as one of the leaders of the team. Everyone else played really well, too. Katie Armstrong had five goals.

Q Talk about how you suffered the hip flexor injury against Totino-Grace.

Q You were back playing the next game against Armstrong. How did the hip feel?

A About halfway through the first half it started to get really tough to run on so I moved to attack and just played offense. I could feel it when I was running and toward the end of the game it hurt just to walk. I was kind of limping around. My dad even told me afterward, "You looked really slow out there."

Q What is your status this week?

A It actually feels pretty good. I've been doing a lot of stretches. I don't know if I'm 100 percent yet so the Andover game [Monday] will be a test to see if I'm ready to go the rest of the season. But it felt pretty good over the weekend.

Q Playing less than 100 percent, what have you learned about yourself?

Q Did being injured change your approach during games?

A I'm really big into cheering people on. I try to be a big supporter and keep a positive attitude. But people actually tell me, 'You yell too much; you're getting annoying.'

Q You mentioned you really improved over the summer. Take me through some of the highlights.

A Well, last year we had two really good seniors who scored a lot of our points. So being the third leading scorer, I knew I had to step it up. So this summer I was on the Minnesota Lakers elite traveling team. And I practiced to develop my stick handling, my shot and my passing. Playing out east helped a lot because the level of play is so much better.