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While Baseball and softball pitchers and catchers and lacrosse goalies started practicing last week, Maine’s other spring sports athletes opened the preseason Monday.

Varsity Maine visited Traip Academy and Messalonskee boys lacrosse practices on Tuesday. Here’s what we learned at Traip.

KITTERY — The Traip Academy boys lacrosse team is well aware that it’s chances of on-field success — at least as measured by wins and losses — are slim.

The Rangers are a fifth-year varsity program. They won one game last season, when they had 28 players on their roster (and a junior varsity team for a third straight season). This year, coach Raphael Matty’s squad has 16 players, including some freshmen who are just picking up the sport.

“Due to the size of our school and the amount of kids we have on the field, this year we’re definitely going to face a lot of adversity,” said senior Terrence Swiger a returning midfielder and captain.

But the Rangers are not discouraged. Tuesday’s practice was light-hearted and lively. Even the goose poop that covered natural grass turf at Haley Fields wasn’t getting them down.

Swiger has committed to play next season at Roger Williams. He plays club lacrosse with Houlagan Lacrosse, based in Epping, New Hampshire. His skills are clearly superior to most of his teammates, but he eagerly encourages others, commenting on things like a teammate’s improved off-hand throws while getting the warmup session started.

“All these guys are my friends. These are my boys,” Swiger said. “To be able to spend first period, second period (at school) with a couple of kids, then go and practice with and play games with them, is something different. It’s a good time to be able to hang out with them.”

IT REALLY ISN’T ALL ABOUT WINNING

Traip has an enrollment of 290 students, per the Maine Principals’ Association’s lacrosse bulletin. The only standalone boys lacrosse program with a smaller enrollment is North Yarmouth Academy (140 students), a private school and one of the state’s original lacrosse powers.

(Waynflete, a private school in Portland, has 254 students. Its boys have formed a co-operative with Cheverus and will compete in Class A. Waynflete girls lacrosse remains a standalone Class C team.)

Traip will play games against Class A schools Edward Little (1,136 students), Noble (940) and Massabesic (870), with another six versus Class B squads like Marshwood (665), Cony/Hall-Dale (647/241) and Gray-New Gloucester/Poland (591/493).

Jake Barber, another Traip senior, said “it’s never about the biggest numbers with Traip sports,” and that with such a small roster, there will “be a lot of running this year.”

And that can be a good thing. At their educational core, school sports are supposed to promote physical fitness. Barber said when he started playing for Traip as a freshman, he couldn’t run halfway around the perimeter of the field. Now he’s a key midfielder and attackman who will try to impart his positive experience to Traip’s new players.

“This sport has really helped me throughout my high school career,” Barber said. “No matter where you’ve started, you can always go up.”

Junior midfielder and faceoff guy Remick Matty said “building stamina and endurance” will be vital. Also important is encouraging new players to insure a positive experience. “It’s fun seeing those kids get involved in a sport I love,” Matty said.

AND THE GOOSE POOP THING

According to a Traip assistant coach, the feathered friends’ feces is a new phenomenon this spring. Barber said the field will get cleaned off.

“Then it gets replaced by the mayflies. I’m not sure which is worse.”