There are many sports at Homestead that do not get any recognition. For example, the lacrosse team. They really never get any recognition from the school. This month, you will get insight and feedback from players on the girls lacrosse team.

This year, the girls lacrosse team has a smaller group of girls tryout for the team, so everyone made varsity for this season.

During most practices, the girls start out by running a mile. After that, they move into stick work, then prepare different things for the next upcoming game they have. To end practice, the girls go into 7v7 scrimmages and practice in-game scenarios.

Hudson Custer, (12), was really sad to miss out on her junior year. Her and her friends were really excited for the season just for it to get cancelled. So this year, it was hard for her to adjust to the field. She is appreciating this season more than ever because of her lost junior season.

Custer believes that the sophomores and freshman are adapting to high school lacrosse very well. She believes that it has been a time for growth and adjustment for the freshman and sophomores. She had some very encouraging comments to say for girls who are interested in lacrosse.

“Our team is all about growth and learning, as we encourage girls who have never played lacrosse before to come and try it!” said Custer.

Custer believes that, so far, the season has started off amazing this year. The lacrosse team is currently first in the region and they work more and more as a team after each and every game. She is proud of what the girls have achieved so far.

With success, there will always be challenges. Custer believes that there have been many challenges in the season. There is an entirely new coaching staff that came in last year, but due to COVID, this is the first year that the girls are meeting them. Also, the new sophomores and freshmen are also here, so it was hard to find a balance.

“It took a while to figure out how to work with each other in the most efficient way possible,” said Custer.

Helen Darmofal, (12), was quite sad not having a junior season. Last season, they had a few practices, and the day before their first game, the season was cancelled. Darmofal was also coming back from an ACL and meniscus surgery, so she was excited to play, but couldn’t until the summer.

“I felt like our team would have been very good compared to what it was in the past years” said Darmofal.

Darmofal thinks that the new girls are doing great to adapt to the next level. They have shown a lot of improvement  They have had a lot of freshmen, sophomores and a couple juniors that have never played before, and they have adapted well to lacrosse.

Darmofal believes that she didn’t miss out on many scholarship offers from missing her junior year. She would usually get offers from when she was playing on a travel team. Recently, she committed to Davenport University, a Division II school for lacrosse.

Darmofal thinks that the main challenge they have faced was not having a true home field to play on. They have to pay to play on the football field, and most practices are held at the YMCA. They only have one home game this year, and the rest they have to travel far to get the the rest of the games.

“We only have one home game and the rest we have to travel 1-4+ hours to get to every weekend and sometimes on weekdays,” said Darmofal.

Torrence Ruggles, (10), has adapted well to lacrosse at Homestead. The coaching staff is super encouraging, which helped her make the change to lacrosse very easy for her.

Ruggles has adapted well to the physicality and competitiveness at the high school level. She believes that there is really no difference between travel lacrosse and school lacrosse.

“There is really not a large difference between travel lacrosse and high school lacrosse so it has been an easy change,” said Ruggles.

Ruggles thinks that the season has gone great so far. The girls have played well together and have won games as a team.

Originally published in the Spartana Issue 7 (April 2021)