In their first match on Thursday, April 11 against Notre Dame Cathedral Latin, the girls varsity lacrosse team lost 6-12. The JV team won 5-3.

Girls lacrosse is a non-contact sport which mixes running, catching and throwing. Similar to soccer, the player tries to get the ball into the opposing team’s net. Unlike soccer, they use a small, dense rubber ball and a lacrosse stick.

“It’s a good sport for beginners because there’s a little bit of everything. We run and work on hand-eye coordination,” said senior captain Heather Wieder. “At least for me, it comes naturally once you get that first catch into your net. Until then, it’s a bit freaky having the balls come flying at your face.”

“I’m so excited–I love lacrosse,” said senior Jori Holloway. “The girls are nice, they’re not cliquey and really fun. The coaches are nice too.”

While the rest of the team shares Holloway’s excitement, some are worried because of the change of their practicing environment.

Without the north gym, and so many sports practicing in the south gym already, the girls lacrosse team doesn’t practice at BHS. The team practices in the Hilltop Elementary School gym from 4:00-5:30.

While they are in the gym, the team has to modify their practices to accommodate the space.

“[During practice] we play a game… it’s like tag with cradling,” Wieder said. “We get a feel of the ball, play catch against the walls and do drills. While we’re at Hilltop, we don’t have enough room to really practice as well as we’d like. It’s hard to run and throw far in such a small space, and we have to be a bit careful because the balls can do a lot of damage.”

“Since we haven’t had the chance to shoot or work with different plays, we’ll need to catch up, but it’ll be tough for the new players,” Holloway said.

 While some players are skeptical, Wieder is confident that the team will do well.

“The freshmen are good, so we’ll pull something off. We always do,” said Weider.

Their next game will be at home on Tuesday, April 16.