This year’s boys lacrosse team was led by ten incredible seniors who wanted to make the most of their last season. In addition to playing hard and working towards their goal of winning, they have put a lot of emphasis on bonding and forming connections within the team. Something that is unique about lacrosse is they are combined with Shorewood, which gives them the chance to form connections with people from other schools. Devin Montague says combining it with Shorewood is “really good, because it allows us to know people from Shorewood better who we wouldn’t have known otherwise.”
The team has improved a lot from last year. “We worked hard on having a fully complete game; we wanted to be consistent throughout all four quarters, not just the first and second,” says Gus Hamilton. They also wanted to assist each other more and be more focused on the whole team’s success, instead of individual players wanting to get more points. The team agrees that having a strong support from the sideline at all their games helped them greatly to be motivated to win.
The team’s most memorable win was against Liberty, a team from Oregon. They were down three points at halftime, and with low spirits, the coaches let the team lead the halftime talk. Senior Captain Pearse Kelly gave a strong speech that helped to get the team riled up and back on track. Gus Hamilton says, “We got fired up and wanted to win. It was a big turning point for us. After halftime we went out and dominated the second half and ended with a win!”
Leadership from the captains was instrumental to the teams success. Captains Gus Hamilton, Wyatt Zapalac, Pearse Kelly, and Kai Sokolowski are very dedicated to their sport and passionate about helping the team be the best they can be. The coaches and captains created an acronym this year- “EAT”- to represent the way they want to perform. EAT stands for Effort, Accountability, and Teamwork, which are the things they decided are most important for them to work on and keep in mind while they play.
The boys lacrosse team also takes ‘EAT’ into a literal sense and loves going to get food after the games and having lots of team bonding events. As a team from different schools, team building and chemistry is very important. Pearse Kelly says, “Other than our pre-game bagpipes and bench chants during the games, we like to get food as a team and sometimes hit Kenmore Lanes for some post practice bowling!”
A special Shoreline Lacrosse tradition is that every Thursday after practice, parents cook them a homemade meal and the whole team eats together, which is a big highlight of the week. Captain Wyatt Zapalac says, “This year we’ve been working on better team building. We have two new players from Meadowdale and at first it was hard to play with them, but we’ve built up the team chemistry and they are now vital to the team and are a part of the family.”
The team is also very close to their coaches. Devin Montague says, “My favorite memory is going and watching our coaches Soko and Gerry in their men’s league game.” The team all came and supported their coaches in their lacrosse game, showing their team spirit and love for the lacrosse family.
Over the years, players involved in the Shoreline lacrosse program make close connections with everyone who is a part of this community, creating new friendships with players, coaches, and parents.
