Molly Christensen, a junior on Lake Region High’s first-year varsity girls’ lacrosse team, cradled the ball in her stick as she weaved around the Freeport defense. Moments later she fired a shot for a goal.
Soon, Christensen was back on the attack. Although she occasionally headed to the sideline for a break, she was in the middle of the action for the most part. That suits her just fine.
“I like (lacrosse) because it’s fast-paced,” said Christensen, who used to play softball. “It’s my favorite sport.”
Lake Region participated in a preseason round-robin tournament at Deering High last Saturday. The day was overcast, windy and cold but that didn’t dampen the Lakers’ spirits.
After fielding a junior varsity team last season, the Lakers were eager to test their skills at the varsity level. They tied Freeport 5-5 in a 20-minute game, then beat Noble and lost to South Portland.
In addition to the Lake Region girls, Maine has five other first-year varsity lacrosse teams this spring – Erskine Academy and Winslow girls; and Lawrence, Erskine Academy and Winslow boys.
Like most fledgling programs, Lake Region has faced a number of challenges, not the least is building a program that will maintain a steady flow of players.
Lake Region’s program started at the youth level and then came a middle school team. That was followed by a high school club team, a junior varsity team and now varsity.
Along the way there was a great deal of instruction as players learned the fundamentals of the sport.
Some of the girls who started at the youth level are now freshmen. They’ve played on travel teams. The roster of 29 includes upperclassmen like Christensen who decided to give it a try.
A SPORT APPEALING TO KIDS
While Lake Region has built its program a step at a time, other high schools have taken a different approach.
“It depends on the type of kids you have,” said Sanford Athletic Director Gordie Salls, whose school has fielded a girls’ lacrosse team for six years and plans to add boys’ lacrosse as a varsity sport in the near future.
“We ran a club program to develop the skills and then we started a varsity program,” he said. “We had a talented group of girls when we started and good numbers, so we went to the varsity level fairly soon.
“Whenever you’re thinking about starting a new sport, one of the main considerations is do you have the athletes to support the program.”
And it appeals to a lot of kids because of the action.
“When you’re younger, sometimes there’s not a lot of action in baseball and softball,” Salls said.
David Keenan, the Lake Region girls’ coach, played at North Carolina State, started the girls’ youth program and has been involved in coaching at all levels.
A core group from the youth program has been the nucleus of the Lake Region program.
“When those kids were in middle school, we started a middle school program. Now the school district has lacrosse programs (kindergarten) through high school,” said Keenan.
Lake Region’s junior varsity lost only once last season. A lot of those players are now on the varsity with a talented group of freshmen such as Lindsey Keenan and Lauren Jakobs, both of whom started in the youth program as soon as they could hold a stick.
“Our freshmen have actually been playing lacrosse longer than our upperclassmen,” said Coach Keenan.
Lindsey Keenan and Jakobs are three-sport athletes like Christensen. But lacrosse is their favorite sport.
Lindsey Keenan has a strong family background in the sport. Not only is she the coach’s daughter but her aunt, Cathie Connors, is the Waynflete girls’ coach.
“I grew up with the sport,” she said. “One of the best things I like about the sport is that you get a touch of the ball on every play.”
Jakobs is a former softball player.
“When I’m out of the lacrosse field, it’s like I’m in a different world,” she said.
Learning the fundamentals takes a lot of work, said Coach Keenan.
“One of the biggest challenges is having to master the stick skills,” he said. “Being able to cradle the ball while running takes a while to learn. The pocket on a girls’ stick isn’t as deep as on a boys’ stick.”
PAYING TO PLAY
Adding a sport can put a financial strain on school districts.
“If we’re going to have a varsity sport, it needs to be part of the athletic budget,” Sanford’s Salls.
But other than the upfront cost for uniforms and yearly cost for coaches, officials and travel, lacrosse is relatively inexpensive, he said.
Girls’ lacrosse has zero impact on Lake Region’s athletic budget.
“It’s pay-to-play,” said Athletic Director Paul True, noting there’s a $100 fee for each athlete.
“Any new sport that’s added here is pay-to-play. We certainly will work with any student who can’t afford it. No athlete will be denied an opportunity to play,” he said.
“I have been encouraged with the enthusiasm from the student-athletes, the parents and the administration about having a girls’ lacrosse team.”
Keenan is a volunteer coach but the boys’ coach, Don White, gets a stipend. The Lake Region boys’ program is in its sixth year. Boys’ lacrosse and girls’ volleyball are also pay-to-play sports at Lake Region. Boys’ hockey has been pay-to-play for 12 years.
True said he doesn’t see that changing soon.
“We would love to support them fully but times are tough for the budget,” said True.
That means a lot of fundraising activities for both the boys’ and girls’ programs. White estimates it costs approximately $9,000 a season to have a boys’ lacrosse program. The team’s best fundraiser has been selling bed mattresses.
“We’ve been selling mattresses for six years,” said White.
Another challenge, White said, is convincing athletes to try a new sport.
“Do they want to risk missing out on another sport for a sport that isn’t a varsity sport yet?” asked White. “Boys’ lacrosse was a varsity sport at Lake Region when all of our current players started playing, but that wasn’t the case for seniors who graduated two years ago. It probably took us about two to three years to be competitive.
“We play in the Western Maine Conference, which is probably the best lacrosse league in the state. We’re still not competitive with the top teams but we are with most of them.”
Coach Keenan is unsure how the girls’ team will fare in its first season.
“It would be phenomenal if we could make the playoffs,” he said.
“The real benchmark will be how we do against the teams we play twice, like Wells. They’re our opening game (April 28) and our next-to-last game. It will be interesting to see our improvement.”
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