Falls Church Lacrosse Takes a Shot at 2015

%28Photo+courtesy+of+fallschurchsports.org%29

(Photo courtesy of fallschurchsports.org)

Edward Cochrane, Sports Editor

Falls Church lacrosse tryouts took place on February 23, and 26 players were selected for the varsity and 26 were selected for the JV team and are now ready to take on 2015. Last season, varsity had a record of 6-10 while JV managed a record of 4-6, but varsity lacrosse this year is supposed to drastically improve now that the impressive 2014 sophomore class has reached its junior year.  JV played its first scrimmage on March 10 at Robinson High School, and JV was defeated 6-1, which is promising considering the varsity Robinson lacrosse program won the state championship. The lacrosse program’s first game was at Annandale High School March 18 (result). The Falls Church Lacrosse program practices from 3:00 to 5:30 every weekday, practicing stick skills, teamwork, technique and strategy. On Saturdays varsity and JV condition and practice.

JV midfielder Ajay Sharma (10) says, “I have big expectations for this year, I think our record will improve from last year and we will grow as a team.  I feel like the team has some incredible potential and I hope we work together to win as many games as possible.”

Falls Church has many rivals.  When asked about rivals, Ajay stated this: “Our biggest rival is clearly J.E.B. Stuart because it’s the longest-lasting Falls Church rivalry, not just for lacrosse but for all sports, the rivalry between Stuart and us is off the charts.”

When asked about J.E.B. Stuart, defenseman Brandon Huynh (10) responded by saying, “Varsity beat J.E.B. Stuart last year and I’m confident they can do it again.”

Many Falls Church lacrosse players start as beginners and the coaches can massively influence the development of a new player, Ajay commented on this by saying, “The coaches have been extremely helpful; they’ve done everything from encouraging and motivating us during workouts and offseason practice to going the extra mile to help us with our stick skills and athleticism.”

Any sport can be tough to deal with whether you are trying to balance school and athletics, or just due to the fact that the practices and workouts are just physically challenging. Ajay said what most of the team’s motivation stemmed from: “Our passion for lacrosse is what keeps us motivated, in the locker room or on the field you will often hear people say ‘Lax is life’ ” “I think most players on the team have great work ethic and strive to do their best.”

JV attack Tyler Darby (10) mentioned this when the topic of team weaknesses was brought up. “As a team we could all improve our individual skill, we also need to work on getting the ball on offense, and putting ourselves in a good position to score on offense.”