By James Joseph
WSL Senior Features Writer

Lilia Lee always picked up any sport she tried rather easily – from volleyball to soccer to basketball.

But when she first gave lacrosse a shot in her sophomore year at Pacific University after meeting Boxers’ head coach Wynne Lobel, she struggled.

“I can remember specifically, I had met Wynne and she had offered to throw around with me, and just catching and throwing the ball was so hard and foreign,” said Lee, who grew up in Waimanalo, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, knowing little about lacrosse.

“I remember going back to my room and telling my roommate I couldn’t do it.”

Lee, however, decided instead that she couldn’t quit, and she began to practice tirelessly. She would put on music in her room and cradle in front of a mirror. She spent hours playing wall ball. And any chance she could, she’d drag friends outside to throw and catch with her.

Good thing for Pacific. Lee made an immediate impact in her first season – 2007, which also was Pacific’s first season as a varsity squad playing at the NCAA Division III level. And just two years later she has blossomed into the Boxers’ leading scorer and one of the top offensive threats in the West.

Through 11 games, she leads Pacific in points, goals and assists, is second on the team in draw controls and is fifth on the team in ground balls.

Lee has registered 62 points this season on 52 goals and 10 assists, and that includes a seven-goal performance during a 20-5 rout of North Central (Ill.) that tied her own school single-game record. Behind Lee, Pacific is 6-5 and needs one win in its final two games to post the school’s first winning season.

So what changed her mind about the sport that initially baffled her?

“Just my background,” Lee said. “My family doesn’t believe in quitting. If you’re going to do something, you follow it through. I knew I had a responsibility to (potential teammates) and to Wynne and to myself to follow through and do what I said I would do.”

Lee played center in her first season at Pacific and made her biggest contribution on defense – something she carried over rather easily from basketball. But as her grasp of the game improved exponentially, she began having more of a hand in the Boxers’ offense.

“Initially I saw her as a great defender,” Lobel said. “And as her stick skills have evolved, she played midfield and now she’s the leader of our attack.”

Lee is a senior but has one season of eligibility remaining. She likely will play next season while she goes for a Master’s degree in teaching at Pacific.

Then she plans to return home, teach at a high school and coach lacrosse, which she said is “blowing up” in Hawaii.

“She will be one of the people that brings lacrosse back to Hawaii and teaches it back there,” Lobel said. “So it’s pretty cool to have a third-year player have such an impact.”