On Nov. 4 and 5, a team made up of Upper School varsity boys lacrosse players competed in the Cowboy Cup Tournament.
Although the team is named Hornets, they are not officially affiliated with Greenhill, and the school lacrosse coaches are not involved with the team.
On Saturday, they played three games. In the first game, they lost to the Texas Legends, 2-12.
According to their coach for the weekend, Chris Lanzillotta, this was the very first lacrosse game the players had participated in in a while.
“Everyone was a little rusty, probably the first live game action since May for a lot of guys,” Lanzillotta said.
Junior Max Johnson echoed this sentiment, calling the first game back an opportunity for the team to get back into their rhythm after not playing throughout the summer and fall.
According to Johnson, the team tried to get back in the flow of things. Specifically, he says they tried to be more patient on offense, trying to give themselves the “best opportunity for good shots.”
The team has had practices run by captains leading up to the tournament. They ran scenarios that involved uneven numbers between the offense and defense.
According to Johnson, the uneven numbers allowed players to work on their communication.
They lost their next game 6-7 to Plano East Senior High School in Game 2. Despite this, Lanzillotta says he felt the team played much better from the first game.
“The team got better every game after [the first one],” he said. “It was impressive to watch the captains and upperclassmen lead.”
In the next two games, the team won. The score was 9-6 against Bridge Select and 9-2 to Plano West Senior High School.
After the Plano West victory on Sunday morning, it was unlikely that the team would earn a spot in the playoff bracket. Lanzillotta told the team they could leave.
“I didn’t think we [were going to make the playoff bracket], and everyone went home, but as the other last games played out, we realized that we were going to advance,” Lanzillotta said.
The team rushed back to the field and played their playoff game. They lost, but Lanzillotta expressed excitement with the team’s finish. He says it was a “great finish for an offseason tournament.”
Senior Jadon Lee says the team stayed strong despite their depleting numbers during the tournament due to sicknesses across the team and a leg injury to senior James Melucci during a game.
“We kind of just fought through it,” Lee said.
