On Wednesday, Boys Lacrosse tied 4-4 in a scrimmage against St. John’s Prep. The team used this first scrimmage as a way to test its ability and create a base to improve upon.
The team had the chance to play together during preseason at a Spring Break camp in Mesa, Arizona, guided by a talented external coaching staff. In addition to that, Jack Pearlson ’23 noted how helpful it was to learn how to play together as a team.
“We got a lot of good hours, which is really what we need, and just keep getting a feel for how we play. There’s some really great coaching out there too. [The camp] hires a few really, really good all-pro guys who come in, and they’ll do stuff with each team, so that was really great, and in conjunction with our coaching staff, to really figure out who we are going to be as a team this year is just going along really nicely,” said Pearlson.
Preseason gave the team the opportunity to identify potential weaknesses and improve them before the first scrimmage. Max Herbison ’25 listed many things that he saw had improved between preseason and the Wednesday scrimmage.
“I thought our stick skills were a lot better to start off with, and there were less unforced errors as the game went out. I thought we had better ball movement. And we were talking throughout the place, instead of playing like a one man game,” said Herbison.
Leading up to this game, the team worked on connecting and learning how to play together in a game setting. Charlie Ferguson ’23 mentioned technical aspects of the game that were vital.
“The biggest thing we focused on was just getting chemistry down and working together and seeing how we can match because we have a lot of new pieces this year. Another big thing was possessions, clearing the ball, riding those aspects of the game. We knew those would be really important to secure valuable possessions and finish when we can, so I’d say those were the main keys to the game,” said Ferguson.
Despite not having a big group, the team has already come together to push each other and themselves. According to Pearlson, after preseason, the team was successful in translating things they worked on there into the scrimmage, and it’s already clear how motivated everyone is to make the most out of the season.
“It’s pretty early to tell. I think we did a really good job of implementing the stuff we wanted to implement. Yeah, we did a good job doing that. I just really like to see everyone getting after it. We didn’t have a lot of guys in Arizona, we’re not really gonna have as many this year. Everyone’s getting involved, and everyone’s pushing the tempo trying to get minutes on the field, which is really, really great to see. That means everyone’s pushing each other and everyone’s gonna get better,” said Pearlson.
Looking forward, the team hopes to continue building off of the strong baseline they set at the scrimmage. Ferguson shared that the team will continue to prepare for skilled teams and work on weaknesses as they come.
“I think we’re just going to continue working on what we can. We’re going to review the film, see what we could do better from today. But we’re not going to change much. It’s just repetition, and focusing on whatever weaknesses we can identify as they come off because we’re definitely not satisfied with whatever result was today. We really just have to prepare for this season and expect a lot of talented teams that we’re gonna go up against and know we have to play better than them,” said Ferguson.
Boys Lacrosse will play Governor’s at home on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
