Despite their third victory of the season over Rockville on May 1, varsity fell short 10-9 in overtime in the first round of playoffs at Rockville on May 10. Although their season ended short, there is much potential on the team, with six underclassmen on the roster, five of whom started on this year’s team. There also will be 11 returning seniors next season.
Boys’ JV lacrosse ended the season successfully, winning 5-2 against Richard Montgomery in their last game, and going 6-1-1 this season. As the season closed, eight previous JV players were called up to varsity to play for the last two games and into playoffs.
Sophomore Justin Heller, who played on JV for two years, was called up as one of the eight JV players to play on varsity at the end of the season. Players like Heller get to develop on varsity not only to help them out for their season but also to prepare for the next season. “I think that getting called up to varsity is very beneficial for us underclassmen who will play varsity next year. We get to experience the different level of play early and it won’t be new to us next season,” Heller said.
Varsity started the first half of their season rough, but quickly picked it up in the last six games, going 2-4 but losing by three or fewer for three of the games. This was mainly due to the introduction of the new offense coach, Brian Katz, who drew up new plays and used his expertise from his own experience playing at a top private school.
Although they didn’t go through much trouble record-wise, the JV team still held strong and came out with the results they wanted, winning every game except for the two hardest competitors every year, with a tie against Churchill on Mar. 21 and a loss against Sherwood on Apr. 9.
Even though the JV players are less experienced and less exposed to higher-level play than the varsity players, the young players are the key to the varsity’s success, as it is just as important to build a good program in the future as to be successful in the season.
Heller said that there are different atmospheres between JV and varsity. “In varsity, you are held accountable for your actions a lot more than JV and I believe that it helps with developing as a player, especially as you grow older,” Heller said.
