Sports

When they started practicing right after February break, many members of the new girls’ varsity lacrosse team had barely played the game. But with the help of a rigorous practice schedule, the Huskies are getting better with every game.

Since it is their first season, the Huskies are being given developmental status, meaning the results of their games do not factor into the records of their opponents. In addition, no matter what its record is, Stuyvesant cannot make the playoffs. This season, their goal is purely to develop. “As a developmental team, our first year is not about winning,” senior and co-captain Jennifer Liu wrote in an e-mail interview. “It is about learning from our experiences and growing as a team.”

Since lacrosse is a new sport to many players on the team, they practice five or six days a week. “We want to prove to the other schools that we’re just as good,” junior Anna Zhang said. “We work just as hard, maybe harder.”

The Huskies participated in the Mayor’s Cup Lacrosse Jamboree at Randall’s Island on Sunday, April 6, a round-robin tournament in which they played five 25-minute games. Despite losing the first four, the Huskies were able to win their last game 3-2 against A. Philip Randolph High School. “We progressed through the five games, learning more and more about strategizing and finally winning our last game,” senior and co-captain Stephanie Hon said.

Freshman Seung Gee Kim, a defender who helped the Huskies by bringing numerous ground balls up the field, was selected as a member of the Mayor’s Cup All-Star team. All the coaches came together to choose one or two players from each school for the all-star team. “Kim was nominated because of her fierce aggressive defense and her ability to bring up the ball from the defensive side of the field to the offensive end,” coach Holly Younglove wrote in an e-mail interview. “She has great energy and has proven to be a key asset to the defense with her hustle and communication.

Like many other Stuyvesant players, however, Kim has had little prior experience with lacrosse. “The first time I saw a lacrosse stick was at camp last summer, but I never actually played with one until this season,” she said.

In addition to practicing and improving their play, new teammates must bond with each other in order to succeed on the field. To promote team bonding, the Huskies watched a professional men’s lacrosse game together at Madison Square Garden on Friday, April 18. For many of the players, it was a good learning experience. “The whole team got to learn a few things,” Kim said. “Whenever she could, our coach pointed out special defenses and plays.”

As a result of watching the game together, “We’re definitely more of a team than before,” Hon said.

The Huskies are currently 1-1 in Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) competition. They started off the regular season with a 3-2 victory over Queens High School of Teaching (QHST) and an 11-3 loss to Cardozo High School, which has a 5-2 record, ranking them third in the PSAL. Member of the Huskies are proud of their performance in these two games. “We beat QHST who’s been playing for several years, and when we played Cardozo’s B team, for the first half of the game, the score was close,” Hon said.

Younglove was also impressed by her team’s performance. “They have really come a long way in short period of time with the game of lacrosse,” she said. She believes that the Huskies’ rapid improvement will carry over to next season, when they will be eligible to compete for a playoff spot. She said, “With only two seniors on the team, Stuy will be a team to be reckoned with next year.”