On or off of the lacrosse field, Chase Coley is easy to spot.
At 6-foot-3, the Minneapolis midfielder is a head taller than most of the other players on the field and the name is easy to recognize on the roster sheet given Coley's other sport: basketball.
The senior is committed to play hoops at the University of Iowa this winter, but in the meantime she's leading the Warriors (8-1) on lacrosse fields around the Metro.
"(Lacrosse) is just so much fun, and I love it," Coley said after Minneapolis beat St. Louis Park 10-9 on Wednesday.
How did a basketball talent like Coley end up loving lacrosse?
"Coach Quinn (Mathewson), I was best friends with her younger sister, and they always used to play," Coley said. "I remember I went and bought a stick so I could pass with them when I went over to their house."
Mathewson, an assistant, said it's been quite the experience watching Coley grow up on and off the field over the years.
St. Louis Park forward Lauren Bruun-Bryant starts a rush to the Minneapolis net in a 10-9 loss at home. Photo by Rick Orndorf
"I've known Chase for a very long time, " Mathewson said. "I still think of her as dorky little kindergarten Chase, so it's fun to see her out on the field."
Coley scored a goal and notched three assists for Minneapolis on Wednesday night to help the Warriors bag their eighth-straight victory since losing to St. Louis Park (6-4) in the season-opener on April 15.
Coleyhas 17 goals and eight assists, and while basketball and lacrosse might seem like totally different sports, Coley claims otherwise.
"There's cutting, there's setting picks for your teammates, pick-and-roll plays like we do in basketball," Coley said. "On defense it's really similar because we have to play help side, there's charges. There's a lot of really similar aspects, and that helps me out a lot."
Mathewson said Coley's competitive edge and vision are the two biggest aspects of Coley's success on the field and on the hardwood.
"She sees the field even though it's different than a basketball court," Mathewson said. "She can call the plays, she'll see the lanes, she'll see when she should go and when the pass is there. On defense, she just knows how to set up … she's found a great medium in terms of figuring out how to use her size and body, and she helps all around the field."
While bigger things await Coley at the next level in a different sports, she and the Warriors are on a roll and still have work to do.
"We've been improving and improving all season long, and we just have to go back to practice and fix the things we didn't do well this game," Coley said. "Game to game, I've noticed each game there's one little thing that we change that helps us. We just get better and better. If we keep going back to practice and working on the little things, I think we'll be a pretty solid team by the end of the season."
