Facing FHC sister school FHN, the boys varsity lacrosse team won this past Tuesday, May 9. The game began with some slack; the boys were lacking in the energy department. The gentlemen were not in it mentally, giving the Northern boys the upper hand.

“Entering the game, you could tell the team was not motivated at all,” said senior captain and attackman Jonah McConnell. “We were not motivated to be at the game, which is why we gave them an early lead.”’

The second quarter revealed a completely different scenario. This early lead powered the boys to improve. They knew that they were not destined to lose the game; the boys got their stuff together and their heads in the game.

“In the second quarter, the defense came out strong—they let only one goal in. The offense also stepped up by scoring eight goals in the second quarter alone,” said sophomore attackman Orion Roskam.

The boys were still slacking a bit; they were not playing to the best of their abilities. They recovered in the second quarter quite a good amount, but some effective, solid motivation was necessary to bring the boys back to the level they needed to be. The score and plays made in the first quarter and some of the second were not a true reflection of what the boys were capable of. Half-time was a point of reflection—the coaches and players discussed amongst themselves.

“Obviously, we were disappointed with the first half, specifically the first quarter,” said sophomore defenseman Ty Ryan. “The energy was good going into half-time, especially coming off of Magnus’s 60-yard goal. However, we still needed to make adjustments to come out hot in the second half. We switched some stuff up with the slides on defense to give us the best chance at running up the score as we did. The coaches really reinforced that we needed to be able to get our second string in quickly because they deserved the playing time after working hard in practice to help out starters.”

The boys rose up to the challenge and came out of the locker room on fire; they hit the ground running. Similar to the second quarter, the third quarter was much better than the first. Better plays were made, better passes were thrown, and the boys were in it to win. The half revealed the boys’ witt and their commitment. The guys came through and secured the win. 

“Our second half was originally not as good as the second quarter at first, but once we began to play better, we knew we were bound to win. Because of this, we put in our second string, and our first string cheered them on,” said freshman attackman Henry McNamara.

This game revealed multiple things to the team: they needed to begin the game ready to play and play as a team. The gentlemen learned they cannot let their guard down when they think their opposition lacks skill. Despite these setbacks, the boys brought in a win. The final score turned out to be 18-14.

“I am proud of how we responded to getting punched in the face,” said senior captain and goalie Crandall Quinn.

These new lessons learned will be applied to their next game. FHE will travel to Ranger Stadium on Thursday, May 11, to play our Rangers at 7:00 p.m. Good luck, boys!