The night is still young; the air is cool and crisp. A Laney attacker is riding around the crease of the goal. Then SCORE! Another point to Laney High School as the buzzer goes off, leaving West Brunswick in the dust, scoring twenty points to zero. This is the reality of our men’s lacrosse team’s losing streak. When our women’s team seems to find success, why is our men’s lacrosse team struggling to find a rhythm?
Our men’s lacrosse team has an abundance of boys to fill the field. So that’s not the problem? Right?
“Having so many people leads to arguments and everyone not playing like a team,” said sophomore Giuseppe Ambrogio. “Having a big team prevented everyone from having equal playing time.”
Giving equal playing time could also be a negative thing too. Imagine being on the verge of making a goal, then the coach subs you out; ultimately, it would take too long to get anything done. Especially if the person they subbed in hasn’t been in a varsity level game before.
Lacrosse is a relatively new sport to Brunswick County, so there are not many camps and recreational things to dip your toes into and learn tips about lacrosse. Having more experience could improve the team.
“My ninth grade year, a lot of freshmen also joined the team, and we didn’t have much talent because it was everyone’s first time trying the sport,” said sophomore Jackson Russell.
However, travel lacrosse teams have recently popped up all over the county. Furthermore, our feeder middle schools added men’s and women’s lacrosse.
“I did lacrosse at Cedar Grove Middle and travel ball during the summer,” said freshman Liam Levasa, who also played for the recreational Wild Tide team in the summer. “It taught me in game situations, how to be a team player and also how to play different positions.”
Overall, our men’s lacrosse team will improve this year. There are a lot of experienced and determined players who are fixated on improving quickly and efficiently.
“This year, we wasted less time teaching kids the rules and just jumped into making game plays,” said senior Jacob Jackson. “I feel like as the years go on, we’ll become a more experienced team because the sophomores are getting older and know the game.”
