The lacrosse player holds his staff, cradling the ball like a newborn baby. He threads through the defense with prowess and speed. All of a sudden, the ball flashes by the defenders and finds itself in their net. “GOAL!!!!” yells the Jesuit player as he pumps his fist with triumph. This was a common scene during the Jesuit JV Lacrosse team’s season.
The Jesuit JV Lacrosse team had a spectacular year, finishing their season with an astounding 10-0 record, beating impressive foes such as Highland Park 10-1 and Episcopal School of Dallas 6-1. The JV Rangers beat their opponents by a +7 goal margin.
The Rangers squad really came together throughout the season, with the returning sophomores mentoring this year’s freshman class. Freshman William Paredes ’19 thought, “I feel like the season went very well because we improved greatly as a team. Not only individually, but also as a team we grew and worked ourselves and noticed a difference at the end of the year.” Paredes continued to say he hopes to be “able to play on the varsity side, but if not, I hope to grow as a sophomore while guiding the incoming freshmen on their first year,” just as this year’s sophomores mentored him. William did not think that there were only a couple specific standout players this year, rather, “all of the sophomores improved immensely. Most of them will be on varsity next year, and I am happy that they were able to grow together on the JV team while helping us freshmen at the same time.”
Sophomore Hunter Bailey also felt that “the season went very well. We went undefeated and everyone improved tremendously.” Bailey emphasized the importance of this year’s freshman, saying, “Down the road we’re going to need them to contribute a lot, so we need them to be motivated and working hard off the bat.” Over the course of the arduous season, Bailey thought that some standout players were “freshman midfielder Jacob Jackson, sophomore midfielder Hank Clements, freshman attackman Peter Buell, and sophomore midfielder Teddy Wagner. They had great years in the scoring column, but they were even better leaders which is impressive especially from some of the first year freshmen. Defensively, sophomores Aidan Johnston, Greyson Mokarow, and Thomas Nolan all had great years. These 3 really protected William Moran, our freshman goalie, well. When they didn’t, Moran was able to make some impressive saves a good percentage of the time and he also had an outstanding year. Also, at the faceoff X, freshman Will Piot and junior Teddy Hovivian had great years and were able to win the majority of the face offs for us which really helped us possess on offense.”
The JV Lacrosse team finished the year strong, winning their match against the Episcopal School of Dallas, and taking home a W against Keller High School 10-0.
The JV Rangers look to improve for next year, as many sophomores graduate and move up to varsity. Be sure to keep up with The Roundup’s coverage of varsity Lacrosse’s State Championship Win and all sports!
