In today’s world of professional sports, there are many instances of selfish players deteriorating their team’s overall play. The girls’ lacrosse team understands the importance of team unity and touts its strong chemistry as a facilitator
for success.

“Although having played only two games and it being the beginning of the season, our team has definitely already built a foundation for strong team bonding,” said junior Sarah Daniels. “The better we get along, the more confidence we’ll have in each other, which will allow us to execute plays better on the field.”

The team has scheduled team lunches and practices on the weekends to better team chemistry.

New Head Girls’ Lacrosse Coach Chantal Geiger has been impressed with the leadership early in the season.

“The five senior captains on the varsity team go out of their way to build up team unity,” Coach Geiger said. “It is important that they become role models for their fellow players as well as the incoming freshman who are the newest assets to the team.”

Coach Geiger places importance on transitioning the ball down the field by passing so that the girls do not get out of breath running up and down the field. The strategy involves using her teammates to set up plays to score goals. This aspect of the game makes teamwork crucial, as each girl on the team must have confidence in their teammates to help out.

“Lacrosse is a team sport; therefore the team definitely needs to be bonded in order to be successful,” Coach Geiger said.

The players and coaches insist that this is the year to make a run for the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) Division-I
(D-I) Championship.

Determination seems to be the word to describe the team as it has practiced hard and added extra conditioning, which will provide stamina along with mental toughness.

During practice, Coach Geiger stresses offensive and defensive drills dealing with probable game-like situations.

“The reason we do these drills regularly is because it helps the players become more confident in game situations when they occur,” Coach Geiger said.

Along with SPC schools, the team will play highly ranked schools such as Plano Senior High School, Allen High School, and Ursuline Academy. The result of these games is not as important as the experience the girls will gain.

Coach Geiger said she looks forward to these games, as they will help the team progress.

“These games will provide a learning experience for both teams in hopes that each team takes something away from each other,” Coach Geiger said.

The team’s added practices on the weekends should help it keep up with these schools that practice year-round.

Taking over a team with little experience is a tough task for any coach to take on. However, Coach Geiger said she is excited for the opportunity and hopeful of success this year.

“When I first came in, I didn’t know what to expect since every team plays differently,” Coach Geiger said. “But these girls have shown over and over again how talented and skillful they are and they play the sport with such passion and have excellent team unity.”

The boys’ lacrosse team, led by senior co-captains Michael LaMendola, John Soloweij, and Nick Barber is looking forward to succeed this season.

However, the team faces much adversity this year, with inexperienced freshman and new players receiving significant playing time.

This will present a challenge within the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) as Greenhill must compete against highly ranked opponents such as St. Mark’s School of Texas and Episcopal School of Dallas.

Nonetheless, the team said it still feels it has an opportunity to have a successful season.

“The team should do pretty well this year,” junior Aaron Krage said.” “We have strong senior leaders to help us get there and achieve the goals we want to meet.”

The season has just begun, but the team is already trying to prepare for the SPC championships and the Texas High School Lacrosse League (THSLL) tournament at the end of the season.

The state tournament features a mixture of the top public and private schools.

In preparation, the team has added games to the schedule against Allen High School, Plano West High School, and McKinney High School to gain experience and find better results in the THSLL contest.

The team has had a shaky start thus far, with a record of 2-3 (0-0) through March 25, but feels that there is still time to turn the season around.

Jeff Hollway, Boys’ Lacrosse Head Coach, acknowledged that the loss of many key contributors from last year’s team has played a major role in the early struggles this year, as well as having seven less players than it had last year.

However, he said that with time, the players will gain experience and grow into better lacrosse players.

“We work very hard to get better each day,” Coach Hollway said. “Our goal is to be better at 6 p.m. than we were at 4 p.m. every practice. Our ability to work hard and get better at our game is our greatest strength.”

A major issue the coaching staff faces each year is the amount of playing time each player should receive, from top to bottom. The younger players, though, said they do not feel that spending a majority of the season on the bench is a bad thing.

Rather, it has been a learning experience that will prove to be very beneficial in the future.

“I look at [playing on the varsity level] as being given the opportunity to play with people much better than me, which will make me a lot better than I would be if I played on the JV level,” said freshman Zac Cooner. “Even though we don’t get to play much, we still get to practice with all the varsity guys, which is really good practice for us, as it exposes us to what we will face in
the future.”

Coach Hollway said that winning is the main goal for the team. He thinks it would be impossible to keep everyone happy and still accomplish that goal. The players said they agree that the team cannot compromise its competitiveness.

“Coach Hollway will put the best ten on the field in any situation,” Aaron said. “He feels no need to put a player in just because they haven’t played much that game. However, the experience they gain is immeasurable. The ability to see what real game speed looks like makes a big difference in a player’s ability to succeed.”

Despite inexperience, the players still train hard every day in order to better themselves and help contribute to the team’s success.

The team said it hopes to turn the season around, which will include a deep run in both the SPC and THSLL tournaments.