After smashing the record books last season, the Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse team is hoping to climb its way up the ranks this spring, Head Coach Matthew Larsen said.
South finished the 2022-2023 season with a program best record of 18-3 and the Central Suburban League (CSL) conference title, Larsen said. The team advanced all the way to the semi-sectionals but lost to New Trier 8-3. While the team beat New Trier 6-3 during the regular season, Larsen explained the loss in sectionals should not cast a shadow over their accomplishments.
“It is hard to beat a good team twice, but more importantly, to stay positive and remember the positives from the whole season and not just base a season on a single loss,” Larsen said. “[After the sectional loss,] we stayed in the locker room and just soaked in our historic season and how much fun it was just being together.”
While last season was filled with memories and overall team success, the team moved forward without graduating seniors, Tommy MacPherson and Luke Winger, who both received All-State honors last season and were valuable assets to the team, senior defenseman Alex Loeber said. The team owes it to the senior class before them to carry
on their legacy, Loeber explained.
“As seniors, we have big shoes to fill,” Loeber said. “I feel a responsibility for this season to be especially great as I have gone through the program for the past three years and seen how each senior class took so much pride in their game,
which is the ultimate factor in how well a season goes.”
While leadership helps propel a team to the top, South lacrosse also relies on a motivational sports movie Larsen chooses each year to help set the tone for the upcoming season, senior midfielder Bryce Marval explained. Last year,
the team watched Coach Carter and The Redeem Team, which emphasized the hard road to success, Marval said.
“The movies we have watched before have a lot of valuable information and takeaways, such as sportsmanship, academic importance, leadership, and team development,” Marval said. “These values we can take away from these films are applied both to our sport, but in [our] general day-to-day life.”
This year, the team will watch Miracle emphasize that success is a direct result of teamwork, Larsen said. As topping off last season will be hard, Larsen explained that he knows the team is up for the task because they have done it before. In the 2022 season, the team went 15-5, whereas last season the team topped that record by adding three more victories to
the win column.
“The challenge is developing and training the dynamic minds of teenage boys to never doubt their ability to produce successful results,” Larsen said. “Developing this mindset of overcoming doubt with teenagers is tough, but once it happens, it is one of the many reasons why we all love coaching.”
While emulating the success of last season will be tough, Larsen explained as long as the team never gives up and sticks together, success will come their way.
“Just like last year, we have a ladder of goals,” Larsen said. “We want to accomplish back-to-back conference championships for the first time ever. The next step is getting over our hurdle of losing in the sectional semi-finals each year. Lastly, is to always win a state championship, but most importantly, never lose sight of why we love this sport.”
