Freeport junior Abby Cormier, left, and senior Mia Levesque participate in a passing drill on the first day of practice. Cooper Sullivan/The Times Record

FREEPORT — Bad weather may have moved the Freeport girls lacrosse team inside for Monday’s first official practice of the 2025 season, but head coach Marcia Wood’s main focus is to be playing outside on June 21, the last day of the season.

“There’ll be six teams total playing on that last day, and we want to be one of them,” said Wood, who is entering her 11th year with the program. “That’s always been our goal.”

The past two seasons, Freeport has met that goal as one of the last teams standing. In 2023, the Falcons claimed the Class C title with a 7-5 win over North Yarmouth Academy. The Falcons almost overcame a six-goal halftime deficit in the 2024 Class B final, but, ultimately, fell to Greely, 8-7.

As Freeport prepares its regular-season opener against Maranacook/Winthrop on April 17, another trip to the state championship game is not out of the question. The roster maintains a wealth of big-game experience, having lost only three players to graduation, and enters the season with 17 varsity returners and a head start into the preseason.

“Some years we’re just working stick work, stick work, stick work, and it’s not until Friday, if at all, if we really get out to play full-field or even small-sided games,” Wood said. “So with this many coming in and this many returning that are not new, they know what they’re doing. I mean, we’re going to get right into shooting and playing and defense (on Tuesday).”

Ten starters are back on the field, including five Western Maine Conference all-stars in senior midfielder Mia Levesque, senior attacker Lana DiRusso (also a Varsity Maine All-State selection), junior midfielder Reed Proscia, senior defender/midfielder Julia Whalen and senior goalie Hailly Curtis.

“This team’s strength is definitely going to be stick handling (and) communication,” Levesque, who has committed to play NCAA Division I lacrosse at the University of New Hampshire, said. “I mean, there’s always room for growth, but I think that we have a pretty strong foundation, and we have a pretty deep bench, and I think that everybody will be able to contribute on and off the field. We’ll have great energy.”

“We’ve always had a really strong offense,” DiRusso said. “We’ve always had a ton of attackers, we’ve had a ton of midfielders, but we’ve always kind of been somewhat short defensively, especially this year. So I think a big focus for us is going to be to grow and strengthen our defense.”

Freeport is thinner than desired on defense with senior Izzy Orlando out with a knee injury, but 44 players came out for the first day of practice, so there won’t be a shortage of overall depth.

And given last year’s heartbreaking finale against Greely, there also won’t be a shortage of motivation.

“I can’t speak for other people, but for me, personally, honestly, I just notice myself thinking about it a lot when I’m training, when I’m running or weight training, whatever” DiRusso said. “Like, sometimes I’ll just be zoned out thinking about that game, how much it hurt and how much I don’t want it to happen again. And I think it’s very motivating to get better and to make sure something like that won’t happen this year.”

DiRusso isn’t the only one keeping the one-goal decision in the back of her head.

“Definitely,” Levesque said. “It was pretty hurtful and painful to go through, but I think that will be our biggest goal to overcome.”

Levesque acknowledges the pressures, both internal and external, that come along with trying to match previous success and earn redemption, but she says the Falcons will find ways to manage it. One of the things Wood the her players to focus on this season is their mindsets.

“Our conditioning by (the postseason) will be fine, our stick work is good, we’ve got enough experience coming back,” Wood said “So, really, the whole thing is the mental game of it, keeping you cool.”