The spring sports season is finally here, and with it comes the arrival of lacrosse. One of the most popular and fast paced spring sports, lacrosse is a game where two teams each try to get the ball into the opposing team’s goal, but there’s a catch, players can only use specialized sticks to pass, catch, and shoot. Lacrosse is most similar to either soccer or hockey. It combines the fast pace and contact of hockey with the larger field of soccer.
Last year the Falls Church boys lacrosse team had an alright season, finishing with a record of 3-8 (3-3 in conference). They were the four seed in the conference tournament and beat J.E.B. Stuart, the five seed, in the first round. They then moved on to play Marshall, the one seed, who beat them and moved on to win the conference.
Since then, they have been working hard to come back this season and win the conference. Carson Hopkins (12) says, “A lot of the guys have been in the weight room and practicing out on the field, our only goal is the conference title.”
They lost a good amount of seniors though, but when asked about this Taylor Devlin (11) said, “We did lose some starters, but we have a good core of guys coming back this year.” They do have many returning starters though, like attackmen Luke McLean (12), Taylor Devlin (11), midfielders Hopkins and Jason Darling(12), defensemen Nick Nguyen (12) and Matthew Nguyen-Tran (12), as well as goalie Reno Sholeh (11).
This year, the lacrosse team plays each team in their conference once, as well as out-of-conference opponents T.C Williams, Herndon, and West Springfield. In addition, they also play a Spring Break tournament that sees them face off against Annandale, South Lakes, and Trinity. That makes for more games on their schedule than last year and when asked about the extended schedule, McLean said, “I don’t really mind playing more games, it’s my senior year so I want to get the most out of it.”
The team started practice on February 19 and are working hard to be ready for their first scrimmage at Hayfield on March 2, and their first game at T.C. Williams on March 13.