Izzy Scane and New York Charging headline debut of Women's Lacrosse League

SPRINGFIELD, VA (NEWS10) -- The game of women's lacrosse stands on the cusp of history. Tuesday night marks the debut of the newest professional league: The Women's Lacrosse League.

The league's inaugural four teams will compete in the Maybelline WLL Championship Series alongside the Premier Lacrosse League Championship Series in Springfield, Virginia this week.

One of those four teams is the New York Charging and their star attackers Izzy Scane and Meaghan Tyrrell. Icons in the college ranks, they'll now lead the Charging into what will be a groundbreaking day for their sport.

"Neither of us knew if being a pro lacrosse player was gonna be an option when we first started playing," said Scane, a two-time Tewaaraton Award winner at Northwestern University. "Growing up playing the sport that we love and thinking it was going to end after college; for it to not, and to have such a cool experience like the WLL - they've done such an incredible job, and it's been such an awesome couple days just getting here and experiencing what it's going to be like. So, to actually step on the field and kinda have our first game in real-time, real-speed is gonna be really exciting, and...definitely an honor to be a part of the first group to do that."

The Charging will take part in the league's opening game Tuesday night against the Maryland Charm. It's the first of three games that all four teams - the Charging, Charm, Boston Guard and California Palms - will play over the next five days in a Round-Robin format, with the championship game being held Monday, Feb. 17.

Now, this won't be the brand of lacrosse we've grown accustomed to seeing at the college level. The league is going with an Olympic-style format called "Sixes"…six-on-six action with no shot backup, a 30-second shot clock and quick restarts after goals that are initiated by the goalie, making for a unique style of play.

"Looking at our roster, we're very attack-heavy," said Charging head coach Colleen Magarity. "So, I think [we're] just building that mindset that we're all defenders now. They have to buy into that...concept that everyone plays everything in this [format]. What they were doing in college, or what they're still doing at the U.S. level is a totally different position of what they're expected to do here. It's gonna be very fast-paced. I've coached "Sixes" before. It's like basketball. It's a quick game. There's four, eight-minute quarters. It really does fly by. Where...the college games now are, like, two-and-a-half hours, this is gonna be, like, 45 minutes."

The Charging held their first practice Sunday, so not only are some of the players adapting to a new set of rules, they've only had a couple days to get on the field and get acclimated to a brand-new team.

But Magarity is confident this group is up to the challenge.

"Every one of these girls have been leaders on their college team, or if they're even still doing the U.S. stuff," said Magarity. "And it makes my job easier. I'm here just to manage them and put them in the right place. Help them get in sets, and help them run things that are cohesive together. I'm gonna learn from them equally as much as they're gonna learn from me, so I think that part's exciting."

The mission of these players goes beyond winning a championship. They're looking to plant a seed in the next generation, and show that the dream of playing professional women's lacrosse is alive and well with the WLL.

"Younger kids that are coming here to watch, or they're watching online, and being, like, "Oh, one day I wanna be Izzy Scane," or "I wanna be better than Izzy Scane." Something to give them to reach for…I think that's so huge," said Tyrrell. "We are here because we wanna grow the game; we wanna set good examples. We want the WLL to be as successful as it can be. And that starts with the future generation. So, being able to lead and set a good example for them…definitely high on our priority list this week."

The Charging and Charm get underway at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday. All of the Round Robin games this week can be streamed on ESPN+.