Beginning the season off with a balanced start, the Brookfield girls varsity lacrosse team hope to once again reach state finals this year. Last season, half the team graduated off to college and in addition, the long-time head coach Kathleen Weber had to relocate due to her career, leaving a broken team behind. In order to compensate with the melancholy loss, the junior varsity coach Sarah Orsini took over as head varsity coach, vowing to build the team back up.

The start of the season was rough with several new players joining, as well as a new location for indoor practices at the tiny turf field at Waukesha’s Strikers. Due to budget cuts, the team began practicing in what was called a “sketchy warehouse” by many of the players. Previously, both boys and girls lacrosse teams held indoor practices at the Brookfield Indoor Soccer Complex. Despite the multiple issues of practicing at Strikers, including the limited parking with a few almost fender-benders, spring had arrived and the true outdoor lacrosse season sparked a new mindset for the team.

The varsity team for the 2015 season included a majority of new faces from each of the co-op Brookfield high schools (BE, BC, BA, DSHA). In addition to the returning players, Grace Black (‘18), Nicole Wilcox (‘16), Maya Sojkowski (‘16), Dani Lehto (‘18), and Amanda Pennow (‘16) from Brookfield Central earned a position on the varsity team. Captain Shannon Bayne (‘15) from Brookfield East stated, “The atmosphere of the team is really different this year with all the new teammates. I’m used to playing with all of the graduated seniors, and knowing where I am needed based on their styles of playing. However, with the new team, not many are familiar with each other’s playing styles which disrupted the easing back into the game beginning of the season.” The girls continue to learn from one another in hopes of recreating that flowing style of the game.

Their record so far is a 5-4 with a 3-4 in conference games. The team’s leading scorers include Captain Michaela Evanich (‘16) with 48 goals as the second highest scorer in the conference, Bayne with 26, and Tealin Robinson (’16) with 18. Their most recent win against Oconomowoc concluded with a score of 21-3 on May 13.

“This season has been really good so far,” Rachel Overland (‘15) from Brookfield Academy, who has been a participating leader for the Brookfield varsity lacrosse team for all four years of her high school career, commented. “We have a lot of new talent on the team which gives us a lot of room for development and growth and we’re trying to take advantage of that right now. But overall it’s going pretty well; we look forward to the rest of the season.”

The next upcoming games for the varsity lacrosse team include an Arrowhead tournament on May 16, followed by a Kettle Moraine game on May 21 and a game against the biggest rivals   Arrowhead Red on May 26. Playoffs will commence in June.