This spring season, the Jefferson girls’ lacrosse program is completely new. Two brand new coaches took over the program this year: varsity head coach, Lauren Alam, as well as junior varsity coach Aubrey Lear, who also coaches Jefferson field hockey in the fall. The team practices in the mornings before school, except after game days. Preseason, which began with tryouts on Feb. 23, continued on Friday, March 12 with a scrimmage against South Lakes High School.

Junior Emma Glass, who plays on varsity for the second season this year, described the new coach’s conditioning-heavy practice schedule. Each practice, they run for 20 minutes around the track and do sprints. “We also work a lot on our stick skills because that’s one of the most important parts of playing lacrosse,” she said on Friday afternoon. “In practice we do a lot of scrimmaging, so hopefully that’ll help us [in tonight’s scrimmage].”

According to sophomore Kayanaat Grewal, also a varsity alum, “[The program is] more serious this year.” In comparison to last year, she said, “We definitely are working a lot more on improving our stick skills.” She added that the team has been working on team bonding and working together. Grewal hopes the preseason momentum will carry them into a good season. “I feel like this year we’re definitely picking up the pace and going head on into the season.”

Girls’ lacrosse members are enthusiastic about Alam and Lear. “I am really excited for the season, mainly because of the new coaches,” Grewal said. Though “it’s hard to adjust to a new coach,” Glass said, “I think that she’s doing a really good job and we all seem to get along.”

Both the varsity and junior varsity teams lost to South Lakes in the March 12 scrimmage. Sophomore goalie Caroline Hatcher had nine saves and juniors Stephanie Zablocki and Emma Glass both scored for varsity. The team is less than a month into a season with a new coach and will continue to work on game strategy throughout the season. This Thursday, March 17, the lacrosse teams play their first home game against Marshall. “A lot of the teams are bigger and stronger than us but I think we’ll still be able to pull out some wins this season,” Glass said.