Boys Lacrosse

Re-Lax, it is lacrosse season

“I’m really excited just to see how we all come together and get our groove and momentum, and start playing together and developing as players.”

The girls lacrosse team started a new season with their first practice on Feb. 15. This year, many of the returning members look forward to continuing to improve their skills. In addition to the start of a new season, Irene Carlquist, will also start her first season as head coach. “I’m really excited just to see how we all come together and get our groove and momentum, and start playing together and developing as players,” senior Mía Salazar said. “I think I’m really excited to grow with everyone.” For the past three years, the current seniors on the team have started each season with a new head coach. For Salazar, she hopes that this year will bring some stability. “We’ve gone through a new head coach like every single year,” Salazar said. “Just having consistency and developing relationships with our players, within each other, and with our coaches to create better communication as well. So in turn, we have a more stable team going into games and practices.” Like all high school sports,

Girls lacrosse hopes to improve as a team

Abby Miller milleabi002@hsestudents.org

there are new players, including freshmen, starting with the program each year. According to sophomore Megan Goshorn, this presents an opportunity to improve together as a team. “We have a lot of new freshmen; there were around forty to fifty there last night [at the first practice],” Goshorn said. “So there’s a lot of new freshmen that I am excited to help get better and make the program better.” According to Salazar, talking to the freshmen and answering questions is important, especially since they are all still learning the sport and need advice and help from someone with more experience. “When [seniors] were freshmen, we remember the intimidation we felt, especially from the upperclassmen,” Salazar said. “I feel like bridging that would help a lot just because we were there at one point, too.” This season, a personal goal for junior Kayli Gerka is to improve on teamwork. In a sport such as lacrosse, where different players on the field work together, teamwork is an important factor. “I feel like [teamwork] could always improve,” Gerka said. “Learning everyone’s name, like I said, we’ve got new freshmen, getting to know them and becoming friends with them.” In lacrosse, there are four basic positions on the field: attack, defense, midfield and goalie. So for Salazar who plays attack, working with her teammates on every side of the field is important. “Defensive-wise, I feel like I lack a little bit, but attack just overall for me is a lot of fun,” Salazar said. “I can specialize in my side of the field and also see what’s going on on the other side, and that just helps a lot.” As for Goshorn, who played defense last season, she hopes to continue to play defense this year. “There’s a lot of running involved in any other spot,” Goshorn said. “Defense, you only stay on your side and that’s it.” The next scheduled girls lacrosse game will happen on Mar. 15 against Westfield High School. The game will be held at FHS.

1. Senior Audrey Blanner runs with the ball during a drill at practice. Photo by Abby Miller.