With a current record of 17-3, the women’s lacrosse team has their eyes set on winning state*, according to senior captain Olivia Eigel.
“[Our goals are to] stay intense in practice and push each other to get better,” head coach Annie Lesch said. “We want to come at the top opponents with new tricks up our sleeve, like new plays and defenses.”
Lesch says that when it comes to bigger games, the team has to focus on playing their game with intensity and not focus too much on the other team’s name. According to Lesch, there have been two key losses that inspired the team to do better going into playoffs. The first was an overtime 9-7 loss to New Trier and the second was a 14-12 loss to Loyola, according to senior captain Jane Brennan.
“I think we had a little more confidence against Loyola, and we played much more composed than we did against New Trier,” Lesch said. “I would say we played a better game.”
According to Lesch, both teams were scoring in waves of three at a time, but eventually Loyola pulled away and was up by five. In the last minute of game play, South came back to score three unanswered goals, losing by two, Lesch says.
“I think it just gave the girls a taste of being that close to [Loyola] at the end of the game, and [Loyola] has been the reigning state champ for a while now,” Lesch said. “I think it gave the girls confidence that they can play with them and beat them as well.”
Brennan agrees with Lesch that the Loyola game brought up the team’s condfidence.
“It just goes to show you that you should never give up because the second [Loyola] started to hang their heads, we picked ours up, and that’s something that’s really impressive about our team: that we never gave up,” Brennan said.
Brennan says that another key game was against Sycamore, a top-ranked team from Ohio. Sycamore is easily comparable to New Trier in terms of talent and ability, and GBS played Sycamore two days after their loss to New Trier, according to Brennan. Brennan said that at the end of the game it was tied 7-7, but instead of falling behind and making the same mistake the team did against New Trier, GBS scored an extra goal making the final score 8-7 without having to go into overtime.
According to Eigel, the team has played some of their biggest games without starting goalie senior Autumn Koh. Junior goalie Michaela Skweres has come in, and New Trier was her first big game, Lesch says.
“I think the team has really rallied behind [Skweres], it’s been impressive,” Lesch said. “They’ve done a really good job of pumping [Skweres] up and telling her that they are supportive of her and they’ve got her back. I’ve been impressed with how maturely they’ve handled it and how much they want to see [Skweres] have confidence in herself. I think they are a huge reason she is feeling good about her position.”
*The Oracle went to print on May 27.*
