While Lax has had a slow start as they waited for snows to melt on Miracle Field, this year’s Lacrosse team is certainly starting off the season strong with positive attitudes and inspiring team goals. Practices remain productive and intense, and Coach Irwin incorporates fun activities that seem to take the pressure off and enhance the team spirit. Because the team consists of mostly returning players, this depth of experience gives the team a strong foundation from which to launch the 2015 season.
To prepare for the season, Coach Irwin has the players set goals for the season: what they want to achieve as a team, as an individual and what they want to avoid. The players concluded that their top goals are to encourage each other and to also be intrigued in every game. For example, instead of sitting, the coach has them standing and rooting for their teammates throughout the duration of the game. This, Clara says, encourages the team to carry out their goal of supporting each other like the 18 sisters they’ve become. Coach Irwin says: “One of our themes this year is “flexibility,” because of the weather and field conditions, as well as team unity and support for each other on and off the field.”
Off of the game field, coach Irwin carries out the positive mental attitude through practice. “When we are all exhausted from running,” Clara said, Coach Irwin “tells us to offer our next suicide up for someone. One practice, we were on our last suicide; and, when she told us to offer it up for someone, we all ran the fastest we’ve ever run.” The Lacrosse team agrees that Coach Irwin finds ways to make practices unique, fun and fulfilling. Offering their suicides up for someone, for example, carries their faith into their life outside of school, which inspires them to push themselves and to encourage each other.
Inside of school, coach encourages the girls to root for each other throughout the day. For example, Clara and Mackenzie Fleming have a special lacrosse handshake whenever they see each other in the halls. The team is there to support one another when they are having a bad day or when they get a bad grade on a test. The team is not just there to support each other on the field. Supporting each other in everyday life and encouraging the community around them is essential to the idea of a team. Coach Irwin stresses the ideas of faith and loyalty throughout practices which then are carried into the girls’ everyday lives.
She says: “My goal is to foster an environment of hard work, commitment to each other, unselfishness and a positive encouraging, attitude which will hopefully help each player to reach their own personal potential and the team as a whole to be the best it can be collectively.” Coach Irwin strives to produce a cohesive team that encourages each other no matter what.
After a season delay caused by snow-covered fields, the Lacrosse team, after only three days of practice, struggled in a scrimmage against Dana Hall. However, this scrimmage did not weaken the team’s spirit. Clara Cahill Farella ‘16 explained the team’s strengths: “We don’t put each other down. We encourage each other no matter what. Wins and losses don’t matter; it’s the team we are becoming through the process.”
The team remains confident and excited to play against Gann at their first game on Monday April 27th. Come out to support the hardworking team which includes veteran players — Tyra Alexander ‘16, Sarah Baker ‘15, Sam Bowman ‘16, Isabel Buckley ‘18, Clara Cahill Farella ‘16, Catherine Conroy ‘16, Sylvia Conte ‘16, Mackenzie Fleming ‘16, Michaela Fleming ‘17, Brenna Mitchell ‘15, Natalie Montalbano ‘17, Sarah Morrill ‘15, Liz O’Neill ‘16, Therese Schickel ‘18 and Elle Schirripa ‘15 — and new players Maggie Stordy 18, Katie Stordy ‘16, Keely Dumouchel ‘18, Annie Irwin ‘16 and Sophie Sardegna ‘18.