With the Varsity Girls Lacrosse team set to play their first game on March 22 at Red Lion, Head Coach Kelly Wetzel is hoping to see the team’s hard work from the off-season pay off.

When asked about the team’s goals for this season, junior midfielder Jenna Soukaseum said, “We want to win the District Championship and go to the State Championship for the third year in a row.”

Furthermore, Wetzel also talked about how the team got to State finals the past two years, but did not win in Districts. Therefore, this year, Wetzel wants to see his team win in Counties, Districts, States, and have a better showing at all levels.

Throughout the off-season, the Rams completed a variety of exercises including weightlifting, indoor practices, and team bonding.

Additionally, the weather has kept the Rams’ practices inside, which is something that Wetzel talked about being an adversity factor.

With all of that being said, Wetzel is still not sure that his team is where he wants them to be in terms of being in shape for games.

Specifically, five of the Rams’ Varsity lacrosse players were also on the Varsity girls basketball team. That was a bit of a challenge for the lacrosse team because the basketball team made it all the way to the second round of states, so those players have been focusing on basketball and not been able to practice for lacrosse.

The Rams have been able to work through that by working hard and preparing other players to play in those basketball players’ spots.

Furthermore, Wetzel talked about seniors Lilly Dressel and Megan Halzcuk being the leaders when they return due to having a good Lax I.Q. (Intelligence quotient).

Looking at what the team has to do before the first game, Wetzel mentioned that his team needs to work on draw controls and transition (from offense to defense).

Looking further beyond the Rams’ first game, the toughest opponents on this year’s schedule are: Hempfield, Manheim Township, Unionville, Garnet Valley, Lancaster Country Day, and Lampeter Strasburg according to Wetzel.

Additionally, due to the number of tough teams on the schedule, Wetzel believes that this year’s schedule will be the toughest season that his team has ever had to endure.

Then, when asked what the Rams need to do to beat those good teams, Wetzel said, “We’ll have to play faster–everybody’s moving and no ball watching, minimize mistakes, and be fundamentally sound.”

Looking towards the season, Soukaseum said she is very excited to have fun with the tightly knit team and play really well.

Wetzel added, “It’s really fun to coach this group of girls. They want to work hard, want to be coached, want to be successful; they are for anything that will make them better, and overall, they are good people and good athletes.”