Q&A with Bloomington Jefferson lacrosse goalie Oralee Hespenheide

By her own admission, Oralee Hespenheide is a little batty.

The Bloomington Jefferson juniors plays — and excels at — one of the thankless positions in sports. She's a goalie for the Jaguars' lacrosse team, routinely taking a pounding from a 2½-inch hard rubber ball from point-blank range.

She does it wearing a minimum of required padding, all the while knowing that the save percentage for a lacrosse goalie is generally around 50 percent, a far cry from the 90 percent save percentage hockey goalies routinely enjoy.

"You have to be a little nuts," said Hespenheide, whose talents and attitude in goal earned her a scholarship offer from Duke University, a traditional power on the lacrosse-mad mid-Atlantic coast. "You have to have a lot of confidence to be able to say 'Yeah, you've scored on nine of 10 shots, but I did make the one big save.' "

Staff writer Jim Paulsen talked with Hespenheide about her devotion to lacrosse and putting Minnesota on the map.

Q: Talk about the difficulty of being a lacrosse goalie.

A: It's more of a mental game. It's a high-scoring sport, so you have to get used to the idea of the ball going in. You have to be aware of a lot of things, like where the ball is and where the attack is coming from. It's physically draining, too, but it's just as much mental.

A: I get that question a lot. In lacrosse, scoring is not that difficult. You can score five goals in a game, no big deal. But making that one big save that keeps your team from losing, that's an amazing feeling.

Q: What makes you successful?

A: I think it's because I'm athletic. A lot of teams just put their biggest player in net. It helps to be in shape, to have fast feet and fast hands. I have to be able to outrun attackers. I work on my fitness on my own because in practice I get hit with balls the entire time.

Q: Do you have enough pads?

A: Personally, I don't like to wear pads. I would rather get hit and shake it off. In the heat of play, you don't notice it unless you baby it, which I don't do. So I use the smallest pads I can find — volleyball kneepads, soccer shin guards, a thin chest protector, bare shoulders.

A: Oh, yeah. My legs by the end of summer are just bruised all the way down. A lot of kids have quit because of the wear and tear.

Q: But you like it?

A: I love it. When I started playing in fourth grade, I was an attacker. But that got boring. I tried goalie the next year and I fell in love with it.

Q: Were you shocked when Duke contacted you?

A: Absolutely. When I heard from them, my jaw dropped. I thought it was some kind of practical joke. I never thought in a million years a school like Duke would be interested in a little goalie from Minnesota.

A: The most common thing we hear is "Where is Minnesota?" That's kind of rude. We hear that and we think "OK, it's time to put us on the map."

Q: How do you approach games where teams might not take you seriously?

A: We kill them with kindness. We use "Minnesota Nice." We've been told multiple times that we're classy and respectful and don't play dirty. Our goal is just to play hard and play well.