Feature Photo By: Izzy Honey – Senior Dominic Knight prepares to throw the ball at a practice. Knight has played on the varsity team for three years.
With a combination of all APS high schools, the new lacrosse team was able to win three of their fourteen games this year. They won against Clear Creek (14-10), Kennedy (14-13), and Overland (10-9).
Head coach Michael Dooley said, “The season has gone very good for us. If you look at the record, not so good, but from a development standpoint we are far better off than we have been in the previous season.”
Other than combining with all four of the other APS teams this year, the boys lacrosse team welcomed many new players this year, three of whom were freshman. Many of the newcomers have never picked up a lacrosse stick before this year.
Coach Dooley said, “We still want new people to experience the sport but we need a better balance.”
The team was about 85% newcomers this year.
One of the new players, freshman Ruben Pasillas, said, “Being on varsity as a freshman was a great experience…the season went alright; the team keeps growing as one.”
The team had a focus on playing more cooperatively, while still focusing on their individual skills.
Freshman Nick Pantuliano said, “The season was challenging, but I just kept trying to get better.”
An accomplishment that the team had this season was scoring against Regis Jesuit High School, who they have remained without scoring at all the last several years. Senior Jesse Tizon scored the two points for the team during that game, ending with a score of 14-2.
At their senior night game on May 3rd against Overland, the team said bye to their three Rangeview seniors: Jordan Livingston (playing at Johnson and Wales), Jessie Tizon (planning to play at CSU), and Dominic Knight who will be continuing a military career after he graduates. They will also say bye to a Hinkley senior, Tomas Garcia, who will be attending CU Boulder next year.
Coach Dooley said, “We are looking forward to getting into our offseason programs to continue to make us better…we want to continue to build on the things we do good at and improve on the things that we are not as successful at.”
After the summer practices, and with both new and old players, next year’s team is hoping to increase their success rate.
Next year, head coach Dooley is hoping the team will have, “A fire to be better, want to learn, [and] to want to bring their game to the next level.”
