Girls Lacrosse Team Makes Tournament For First Time

A happy lacrosse team celebrates their first ever tournament qualification. photo courtesy of RHS girls lacrosse.

Liam Lenihan , Veritas Staff

May 25, 2017

In only their second season as a varsity program, the girl’s lacrosse team has made tournament for the first time. Last year Rockland finished up with a record of 3-13, but this year with a little more experience the Bulldogs have a record of 10 and 8

Since the girls lost a lot of players from last year they had to bring up some eighth graders, who have been nothing but assets to the team.

At the beginning of the season nobody really knew what to expect from the Bulldogs with losing a lot of players, and not having a great season last year.

Coach Lauren Rizzotti, also a math teacher at Rockland High School, said the goal for the team this season was “to play our best game no matter who we play against.” She explained, “Things like making a good passes, and catching all balls are things that we can control, and need to make sure we are great at it. Possessing the ball when we have it is the most important thing for us against strong or weak teams.”

Another goal that the team had set for themselves this season was to make tournament for the first time in the school’s history, and they are only two wins away from completing that goal.

One thing that senior captain Emily Beatrice thinks the team can improve on is their discipline. She says, “The team needs to improve on checking correctly. Girls’ lacrosse is a non-contact sport and our team hasn’t quite got the hang of that yet. We get too many calls called on us that lead to goals because of our lazy checking.”

Junior Jaymie Atkins believes the strength of the team this year has been their effort and improvement from last year. She said, “Our strength would be our improvement because although we lost a lot of players we improved overall as a team and beat team like Abington that we haven’t beaten in previous years.”

Coach Rizzotti said that there has been a lot of stand-out players for the team such as their top goal scorers, Maddie Blonde and Emily Beatrice.

Every game, Ms. Rizzotti said, a different player surprises her. Jenna Burns, and Cassie Ofurum are also stand-out players because of the amount of effort they put into every single play.

Jaymie Atkins, Natalie Draicchio, and Colleen Burke have been extremely smart players on both sides of the field for the team.

One player that Rizzotti believes doesn’t get enough credit for the amount of work she puts in is Kaylee Patten. “She is extremely vocal on the field and I think the girls look up to her commitment to the team. If she is focused at practice the girls around her will be focused too.”