The longer days and dew sprinkled grass mark not only the start of a long awaited spring, but also the beginning of the Girls Lacrosse season. This year glimmers with the promise of new beginnings and a tenacious team. Not only have the girls received a new head coach, they are also facing cuts and a nonexistent C team, meaning prospective players have to make JV or Varsity, or not play at all.

“The coaches are definitely tougher; they’re a little stricter,” sophomore Lexi Bottern said. “I think people are more motivated this year because there are cuts, so people have to try a lot harder… I hope being older and having a year of experience will make it easier,” she said.

Bottern isn’t the only one who thinks that people are going to have to work harder. “People have dropped out a lot because they don’t feel confident enough. Most people want to be on a more relaxed team, this year’s definitely going to be tough,” freshman Ella Matticks said.

However, this team isn’t unfamiliar with hard work or serious competition. In the past, the Varsity team executed a series of games called the “Lacrosse Olympics”; conducted three times per season, pitting players against their own teammates in a fierce struggle to determine who would emerge victorious, a gold medal champion.

Even so, as the official tryout period ends and the team’s first few games loom around the corner, no one is quite sure what to expect. “[The coaches] have been working a lot on defense and attack with the players individually… [the team] is very young so we’re not expecting a lot but it could always turn out well,” Matticks said.

“I don’t know if we’ll have a better chance this year than last year—we lost a lot of players but we’ve had a pretty strong first week of practice.” junior Sarah Romans said. “We have a very different team this year… I think that has less do with the change in coaching and more to do with the fact that we have a lot of new players. I think we’re pretty prepared.”

Despite the loss of older, more experienced players and an unprecedented level of competition brought on by the lack of a C team, the lacrosse team continues to thrive.

“Everyone’s up for everything we’re doing in practice,” Matticks said “Everyone’s giving it the best they’ve got.”