After facing two close 5-4 and 12-11 losses to Sequoia High on March 19 and Gunn March 21. The Falcons are aiming to come back and move toward a winning season.
Because the team has only 18 players, they have struggled with limited options of substitutions they can make during games. In particular, the Falcons lost junior defender Brian Park, who transferred to Lynbrook.
“We’re a very small team in numbers, so we get tired really easily,” senior defender and co-captain Chance Cox said. “At the beginning of the year, it was all conditioning to get us in shape, because we knew we didn’t have that many people.”
However, players like senior midfielder Jimmy Speedy emphasize the strong offensive and defensive prowess of the Falcons.
“I think our offense is a big strength, because all three of our offensive players — [senior] Pablo [Parker and juniors] Tony [Capek] and Clark [Rothenberg] — have been playing lacrosse since like sixth grade,” Speedy said. “Our defense is very good, too. Chance is an awesome defender. He’s a great leader. Same with [senior] Daniel Castronovo.”
With a 1-5 record as of their game against Gunn, the Falcons still think they have a chance at making CCS.
“I guess right now [our goal is] just to get better every day,” Speedy said. “We focus super hard, and we try to get better every day, every practice. We try to go into each game and give our best effort, to try to out-hustle the other team and hopefully come out with a win.”
Despite the challenges the team has faced, both Cox and Speedy expressed their love for the sport.
“For me, personally, [my favorite aspect of lacrosse] is just being able to go out, compete and have fun with my team,” Cox said. “It’s a sport that I’ve been playing for a long time now, and I enjoy it.”
Cox added, “Come to the games. We like it when fans come.”
Saratoga faced Watsonville, Palma and Leland on March 27, March 29 and April 3. The Falcons will face Los Altos at home tonight, April 5, but the Falcon could not cover these games due to printing deadlines.
