On Wednesday, March 22, the boys varsity lacrosse team launched into its first game of the 2023 season. After being tied at the end of the first, second, and third quarter, the Rangers’ opponent, Grand Ledge, lost its wit and fell short to the Ranger boys. They stood no chance; the final score came down to 10-8. 

The first game of the season is always full of jitters. But for the Rangers, the nerves were decimated, creating an extremely confident team; this came back to bite them during the first few parts of the game.

“I think it was a little surprising,” coach Andy Shira stated. “Last night was a little wake-up call to the team. For the most part, I have felt very encouraged about what we’ve seen from this group in the short amount of time we’ve had, and I think we were further advanced than where I would’ve expected us to be after week one. I’m sure the kids were excited and maybe a little nervous being game one last night, but I don’t think it was our best showing. We got better as the game went on, and a lot of our early struggles were to the credit of Grand Ledge. They had a great group of kids who wanted to smack us in the mouth.”

Despite starting on a not-so-great foot, the guys had some small accomplishments worth highlighting. Senior defenseman and captain Sam Sneider discussed one of his favorite moments.

“The best thing in the game had to be when Collin Webb had his diving goal—it was a real tone-setter for the game, and I think it brought our energy back.”

Sophomore middie Ty Ryan told about his own moment he deemed memorable. 

“At the end of the fourth quarter, we went on a 3-0 run after being neck-and-neck for the majority of the game—that really brought the hype.”

But before the guys had their 3-0 run, there were a few bumps in the road. Being the first game, there will always be small things to tweak and do better next competition. But for the first game of the season, coach Shira was proud of how his boys played.

“I’d say there were first-game nerves for many, and for some, it was really the first time they’re being relied upon to have a significant role and minutes on the varsity team. That doesn’t mean they’re inexperienced, though. They’re very much aware of the expectations my staff and I have for them. It’s tough to replicate game-day emotions in practice. At the end of the day, I was thrilled to see how they battled through a tough test and fought through adversity. It was back and forth for a while, and we were even down a goal in the 3rd quarter, so it was nice to see them fight through that.”

Reflecting on the game, senior attack and captain Graham Bennett added to things that could be improved upon.

“We had many weak spots that we definitely need to work on; the defense definitely did not play their best game, but I know they have a lot of potential. We have all the pieces; we just need to put them together.”

Little by little, the pieces of the puzzle will end up fitting together. The boys will use the momentum and things they learned from this game to compete better and cleaner this weekend. On Friday, March 24, the team will be traveling down to Indiana, where they will play Carmel on the same Friday at 7 p.m. and HSE the day after at noon.