Girls Lacrosse Focuses on Building Skills and Comaraderie
M. Owens
Junior Jessica Mele races down the field, dodging her opponents.
Shoes meet turf as the energized girls of the JV and Varsity lacrosse teams launch onto the field to begin their practice together on recent evening.
A typical late-afternoon or evening practice comprises transition drills, dodging techniques, and a variety of defensive and offensive tactics. To invigorate the hardworking girls, music is blasted from the sidelines.
The varsity girls lacrosse team has been a tough competitor with impressive victories to local teams such as Clayton Valley, 18-1 and Ygnacio Valley, 14-2. They have struggled to defeat other schools in the district in their recent games such as Miramonte, which the team lost 16-3 to, and Campolindo, which resulted in a loss of 15-6. Overall, they have had a total of seven wins and nine losses in the season so far.
Senior Michela Cardoza, a defensive player on the team, values the post-game discus- sions she has with her team.
“After every game, we evaluate how we can become better and work on the skills we need to improve during practice time,” said Cardoza. “Our transitions have especially improved, the movement of the ball down the field is significantly better than it was at the beginning of the season.”
The team’s new coach Avi Orenstein previously coached with the Walnut Creek Warriors for six years and has coached a few seasons with 3d Lacrosse and 4Core.
Orenstein works hard to create productive and beneficial practice plans to help the players prepare for games. “The first 30 minutes we run, do dynamic stretches, and then lower extremity stretches every other day to prevent injuries such as ACL. Then, we break into some type of shuttle drill working on passing, catching, and ground balls with both our strong and weak hands,” said Orenstein. “While the bulk of the team is doing these, me or my assistant will warm up the goalies. After that, what we work on is dependent on where we feel we need to focus, but, generally, it will involve game-like conditions for both offense and defense. Then, we finish up with more conditioning.”
Junior Simone Millan, another member of the team, enjoys the company of her teammates. “This season is great so far. The team dynamic is great because there are a bunch of amazing, hilarious girls on my team,” said Millan.
Millan has been playing lacrosse for five years, and this season has helped strengthen her passion for the game.
“When I’m playing lacrosse, I’m having so much fun. I just love being out there and able to play the sport,” she said.
Coach Orenstein has seen many positive developments in the skill of the individual players and team as a whole. “Every game there’s been improvement...We are a much different team today than we were two months ago,” said Orenstein.
“I’m focused on rebuilding this program. We have the talent on the team. It’s a matter of further developing, refining, and building the trust and confidence amongst the players.” he said.
