After a successful season last year, girl’s lacrosse anticipates improvement as the team will consist of almost entirely returning athletes. The team graduated no starters last year except former goalie, Veronica Bernard ‘16; this will prove very valuable in terms of team cohesiveness.

“Last year there were some girls that were new to the team and they weren’t as cohesive a unit as they could have been,” varsity Head Coach Jim Moy said. “So with them playing one year together already and returning as a unit, they’ll be much more cohesive.”

Although the field players have prior experience playing together, the goalie is new to the team. Because of this, the team will be focusing on readjusting their defensive strategy to accommodate for the loss of a returning goalie. The focus will shift to trying to limit fouls in order to keep possession and continue moving on the offensive, varsity midfielder Hannah Greving ‘19 said.

“Without a returning goalie, more pressure will be on the field players, but most importantly the defenders who need to keep communicating and having each other’s backs when needed,” Greving said.

The coaches hope to finish in the top five at state this year compared to their eighth place finish last year, Moy said. This goal seems very achievable based on how the team has been performing during intramurals prior to season, varsity midfielder Jane Ragains ‘17 said.

“I think this season will be the best one I’ve seen of an LT team since I’ve been on the team,” Ragains said. “We all know how each other play and we’re all comfortable with each other.”

LT’s greatest competition this year will be Hinsdale Central and York, two schools that have been consistently strong for years, Greving said. The team will have to focus on performing strongly throughout the entire season in order to ensure a high seed come playoffs. After a loss in super sectionals last year, the team is set to work hard and make it as far as they can in their run to state.

“If we can execute on the games where we have harder opponents, I think it will really boost our confidence and reassure our place in the standings,” Greving said.

Ragains, the top scorer last year, believes that in order to be successful against these teams, they must shift from an individual to a team mentality.

“I think we need to work on opening up the field,” Ragains said. “Some people have a mentality that they just want to score, but we need to work on realizing that an assist or simply being a part of the play is equally as important.”

LT has never beat Hinsdale, but last year they were winning at halftime 5-4. This leaves hope for this year, considering Central graduated a much larger portion of their varsity team than LT. The team will face off Hinsdale as the last season game of the year at home.

“I know that this year is the year we are going to beat Hinsdale,” Greving said. “Because it’s the last home game before playoffs we are all super excited and pumped to hopefully get the W.”