Mike Crupi/THE POST A member of the Ohio lacrosse team fights her way past a defender at the Shafer Street practice field last Monday afternoon.

It isn't the best team around, nor the most experienced. And it's not used to members of the press hanging around.

But it is a team. Its players have one another. They put in hours of practice - 2 1/2 hours a day, to be exact. They have their equipment. They have visiting recruits.

And, of course, they have those gray shirts emblazoned with "Ohio lacrosse," for the first time in a long time.

Nine of the Division I team members are freshmen, most of whom had experience playing high-school lacrosse. Six sophomores, four juniors and two seniors make up the rest of the team.

About half have experience stemming from their involvement with Ohio's former club lacrosse team.

The club team was run by the captains and the president, said senior Lee McCloskey, former club president and current team co-captain. The club team practiced two hours a day on weekdays and played a fall season of five.

"It was a little more relaxed," she said. "It wasn't a coach teaching. It was more of us all working together as a group."

McCloskey said the experience the club team members had playing together was an advantage for the new team.

"It is much easier to come in and play rather than if you pull a group together," she said.

Senior Marianne Beshara had no lacrosse experience coming into the first practice, but within five weeks she was elected co-captain.

Beshara, a former field hockey player, became interested after her field hockey coach, Mary Milne, suggested involvement in the lacrosse team. Milne told Beshara that Anne Moelk, Ohio head lacrosse coach, was interested in athletes who had experience playing a Division I sport and were done with their sports.

Beshara said Milne might have sensed that she was missing the team practice and atmosphere.

"I saw it as an opportunity to give to another team, to be a part of another team," she said.

Beshara's new team is what she has come to expect of teammates.

"Their attitude is great," she said. "They push each other. They listen to each other. That's really going to help them in the long run."

Moelk played lacrosse at Denison for four years and was a member of several Midwest tournament teams. She comes to Ohio with 2 1/2 years of assistant coaching experience at Ohio State, the only other NCAA Division I school in the area with a lacrosse program.

Having coached at Ohio State, she knows about the competition Ohio State's 4-year-old program can offer, especially because Ohio will be playing Ohio State this season.

"The Ohio State game is going to be a wake-up call about what it takes to play Division I lacrosse," she said.

As for the rest of Ohio's schedule, it is important to remember that this is Ohio's first season.

"I don't anticipate us winning any of those games," Moelk said. "It's going to take a good four years to be competitive with the top 25 programs."

Moelk arrived at Ohio in January 1999, which means she missed a recruiting period. She said she doesn't even really consider next year among those four.

Moelk said she expects to get three or four good players who have been looked over. Those players, who have a lot of ability but were looked over because they played in the shadow of All-Americans, are examples of the types of players Moelk is recruiting.

"I think you have to work at (recruiting) more than (recruiting at) an established school," she said. "Top-notch kids want to go to top-notch schools."

Right now is the time for this season's players, though. Although they have not yet set goals for the season, Moelk has some for the team. She wants to improve basic skills, defensive skills and conditioning. She wants her team to keep a positive attitude and stay realistic.

"We're going to grow a lot," she said.

The Bobcats start their season March 24-27 in Davidson, N.C. They play Davidson March 26 and CAL-Davis March 27. Their other games are at Ohio State April 10, against Denver April 24 and at Gannon, May 1.