The varsity girls lacrosse team made Mason history last season by earning a trip to the 4A State Championship. With only nine seniors left, Coach Courtney Gibbons plans to take the trip to the State Championships again on her 11th year of coaching at GM.
“I think its made a lot of us step up into leadership roles cause last year we had a strong group of seniors that were a huge part of our team dynamic, but this year, the seniors have had to step up and fill that role, which is really cool because we’ve been playing together since 5th grade,” senior midfielder Amy Roche said.
This season, there are six new sophomores and freshmen combined along with a new assistant coach, Courtney Hoffman. They are building off their success from last year and improving their strategy of taking it one game at a time and playing off their instincts. Possession of the ball is also very important.
“When you have the ball, you score goals and win games,” Roche said.
Currently, their record is 7-0, but Gibbons believes the girls need to have a stronger competitive mind, while on the field.
“We definitely need to play up to our potential in games. I don’t think we’ve played as well as we can in game settings, but that will come with time,” Gibbons said.
Roche said that Yorktown was their most important game and also their first of the season. It was a great outlook on how the team came back on top after being down by 5 or more points.
Senior defensive leader Lydia Grund is a player to watch since she is determined to help set the right mindset for her team before games.
“I think one of the things we’ve talked about is just how we have to get really excited to play because sometimes we can just get down on ourselves and let things happen to us, so I’ve been trying to get everyone on defense excited and pumped up to do the best,” Grund said.
Because three starting defenders were lost, Grund, along with the rest of the defense, has had to step up this season and help keep the momentum up.
“[Defense] is more of a team kind of effort as opposed to offense and so it’s important for people to step up and be a leader and I am trying to do that this year,” Grund said. “Communication is probably the most important part when playing defense… but I think we are meshing very well.”
The team is looking forward to playing Riverside on Monday May 7 at home, which were their biggest rivals last year, and their opponent at the State Championship.
You can catch the Mustangs take on South County High School this Wednesady on the turf at 7:15 p.m.
