Lacrosse players received an unexpected email from athletic director Rick Ellis on Jan. 18 saying that lacrosse’s spring season sports season had been canceled. Ellis’s email had cited low registration as the main reason for cancellation.
Last year, the girls’ team also saw low registration, lacking substitutes with only 15 total players. Despite low numbers, the season went on, with the Falcons ranking 7th in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL). Many of the new players were hoping to continue their momentum into the 2023 season, but instead were met with numerous obstacles.
“The whole thing is a mess right now,” sophomore defender Riley Adler said. “Some girls registered and some didn’t, and then the email went out saying that lacrosse was canceled for both boys and girls. It’s frustrating because [the season] could have happened; we just needed prior notice so we could get more girls to register.”
Last year, the boys’ team had a whopping 13 seniors who have since graduated, but only five new underclassmen, and there was no JV team. Even with new registrations this year, the team did not have enough interest to field both a JV and varsity team, which would have resulted in at least eight freshmen playing on varsity.
While registration was certainly an issue, there were a couple other reasons highlighted by players which may have contributed to the cancellation, namely finding qualified coaches and a very young boys’ team that would have been pitted against junior and senior-heavy talented teams, leading to the risk of injury. Ellis declined to comment for this story.
Prior to the season’s cancellation, the girls’ team had not yet found a coach. The boys’ team also experienced similar problems.
“At first, we couldn’t find a coach, so the season was already on the edge of being canceled,” junior defender Kyle Scola said. “They then found a coach, but he didn’t play lacrosse so that would not have worked.”
Due to many schools disbanding their lacrosse programs last season, SCVAL was dissolved going into 2023, and both Saratoga High and Los Gatos were moved to the Peninsula League.
Some experienced players like sophomore Sawyer Chao were looking forward to the season and playing at a higher level than last year. Despite being unable to play, he still hopes to keep in shape, and is considering joining a different sport like track to keep up with conditioning. He also hopes to join a summer lacrosse league to gain back the practice he will lose, with many other players having chosen to do the same.
“We tried to fight back a little bit and get some more upperclassmen to join so that we could potentially have a team,” Chao said. “We weren’t able to get enough in the end.”
