After finishing last season with an impressive 20-2 record and barely losing the National Championship, the lacrosse team is back.
“We won the Inter-Ac but then lost in the National Championship to Malvern. We had already beaten them twice that year,” Sixth Form Captain Gavin Cooper said. “It stinks.”
After losing tons of graduates, the team is fresh.
“It will be more of a process than last year,” Head Coach Brendan Dawson said, “We lost eighteen seniors from a really good year. We played lots of them as juniors, so we had continuity from the previous season. [This year is] going to look different. We have to be realistic. We have to recognize that. Where we are now is vastly different from where we are going to be in two weeks,” Coach Dawson said.
“We have the ability to be one of the top teams. We just have to gel together. Lots of new roles. We lost some great leaders and people with big roles,” Cooper said. “Men have to step up.”
To prepare for the season, the team maintains the same philosophy.
“We want to be really good at the basics,” Coach Dawson said. “Goals remain the same. We want to win the league. The way that we do that is by getting better every day. One-day-at-a-time mentality.”
“We have a very experienced defense who led us through the scrimmage. Our offense is our biggest unknown. We are moving in the right direction.”
Coach Brendan Dawson
“[Coach Dawson] runs it like a college practice. Very high standards. He treats freshmen and seniors the same,” Cooper said.
The team has its strong and weak points.
“We played pretty well in our first scrimmage,” Coach Dawson said. “We have a very experienced defense who led us through the scrimmage. Our offense is our biggest unknown. We are moving in the right direction.”
“The first scrimmage was great,” Sixth Form Captain Kellen Gardner said. “It’s always a fun opportunity to get on the field for the first time with a new group. It was great to have young guys stepping into new roles and settling in. As for the seniors that we lost, it’s something that teams deal with every new year. For us, we know we have a little younger of an offense, but we also have some offensive veterans who are doing a great job of taking those guys under their wing.”
The team has done some activities together in the offseason and preseason..
“We played a tournament in the fall and have worked with [Strength and Conditioning Coach Mr. Matt] Rosko together. Plus, some work in the summer. We then had a week of practice and a scrimmage and then a game. First three weeks are just about gelling together,” Cooper said.
In addition to a pretty new team, the schedule presents an extremely challenging slate.
The Inter-Ac is one of the top leagues in the country. Additionally, the team will be playing top teams from New York and Maryland.
“We have a tough schedule,” acknowledged Coach Dawson. “It will help us figure ourselves out. We want to win every game. We need to focus on them one at a time. If we have a great win, that’s great. If we lose, that’s fine. But we need to move on to the next game.”
In addition to a challenging schedule, rules and the tournament that the team is participating in have changed.
“There are new faceoff rules. Plus, we are playing in the PAISAA Tournament. It did not really exist in the past year. Now it does,” Coach Dawson said. “It’s a great playoff format at the end of the year.”
“We normally do an Inter-Ac tournament or national prep tournament. I would rather do something locally. More fun to do stuff around here as we can have a crowd for home and away games as well as not as much of a commute,” Coach Dawson said.
Gardner agrees, saying, “The PAISAA tournament is a new and very exciting opportunity for us this year.”
Despite the unknowns and challenges, the team leadership feels positive about the future.
“We need to mature as a group. The group has the talent needed. There is lots of competition. We need to make sure we are focusing on the process. How well we do that determines our season. Are we not paying attention? What we deal with off the field reflects what we do on the field. If we show up to class late, it will reflect. Do your homework, go to class, and be focused on the field,” Coach Dawson said.
“We are just taking it game by game, week by week, getting better every day as a group,” Gardner said.
