The La Jolla High School boys lacrosse team has come a long way in four years.
When many of its current seniors started with the team, it had a 2-17 record. But this week, it is competing in the playoffs.
That momentum, however, could slow before next season starts.
Later this month, a whopping 14 seniors on the 19-player team will graduate: Braden Broese, Chase Dixon, Cooper Smith, Evan Dommers, Eyal Amsalem, George McCann, Jack Long, Kai Fukuda, Kyrann Stewart, Nate Takata, Paul Zemljic, Richardson Liou, Taylor Beck and Wyatt Olmert. They were honored by their teammates, coaches and families during the recent Senior Night.
Head coach Adam Morawski said Takata and Dommers have been standouts.
“Nate is a really good athlete and plays multiple sports that take place in the same season, yet he still manages to be a really good student,” Morawski said. “He is also our leading scorer with over 55 points on the season. His performance on and off the field is something we needed.”
Dommers has been playing “a long time” and brings experience to the team, Morawski said.
“This season he wanted to play goalie, which is the hardest position in lacrosse,” he said. “We graduated a solid senior goalie last year, so he volunteered and has been unbelievably good. He gets hit by a ball every practice, which is not something most kids sign up for. But it’s hard to tell he hasn’t played the position a lot. That has been a massive help for us.
Losing such players “is going to be tough,” Morawski acknowledged, but coaches are prepared to pull players from junior varsity.
“We have a great group on JV with 19-20 guys that are some solid kids,” he said. “They have been really good. It’s a combination of kids that are new but really athletic and those that have experience. The team has been successful in winning games and player development, so we expect a lot of those kids to move up to the varsity level.”
La Jolla High is unique in that it has a feeder program that welcomes youths from La Jolla, Pacific Beach and University City as early as kindergarten to learn the rules and skills of the game so they are ready when they reach high school, Morawski added.
“We’re lucky to have it,” he said.
The program is run by volunteer coaches who often are parents of players who have graduated.
Lacrosse, often described as a combination of hockey and basketball, creates opportunities for all types of athletes with different skills, Morawski said.
“You don’t have to be the biggest or the fastest; it’s about your stick skills,” he said. “Some really good players are huge monster athletes. Then you have the shorter players that are quick and shifty. …
“It might be hard to be successful in basketball if you are 5-foot-7, but you can find success in lacrosse. You need to be tough, but there is a wide range of athletic types and skill sets that can be successful.”
“I’m a firm believer that team sports are a great training ground for the things you deal with in life: ability, being part of a team, reacting to what other people do,” Morawski said. “In lacrosse, we try to stress being a good teammate, controlling the controllable things and how they react to the situation. Those are all things that apply in life as well.” ♦
