It’s spring! This time of year comes with some of the most fun sports — both to play and to watch, including girls lacrosse. This year we have some amazing players playing both varsity and junior varsity who are being coached by Head Coach Riley, Coach Griffiths, and Coach Cough. The varsity coaches are Coach Riley and Coach Cough. The junior varsity lacrosse coach is Coach Griffiths. 

Additionally, girls lacrosse has a total of four managers this year including Saturn Rocha, Gabriella Hernandez, Amanda Lemus, and Maria Aguilar Lopez.

Our varsity team has already played several games and scrimmages against other high schools; arguably some of the most memorable happened on March 13th, March 16th and April 11th. Both were very intense and could have been anyone’s game, yet OHS still managed to pull through with the win. March 13th, OHS played Mount Vernon, a game that couldn’t be called until the very end. 11-10 was the final score and players said it to be one of the best and most demanding games they’ve ever played. Jessica Ocampo gave us an insight into what it felt like to be on the field at the time and what was going through her mind as the goalie of such a big game.

“At that moment I felt the ball coming towards me so I had to get into position. I was so scared since it was such a close game and one wrong decision could throw the whole game away. It was hard, I needed the help of our defense but they were tied up with other players. In general, I was just terrified that they would score and cost us the game,” said Jessica.

Only 3 days later on March 16th, varsity played Hylton and won 2-0. This game had significant sentimental value to many of the veteran players. Last year our team lost to Hylton and many of the players saw this as a time to redeem themselves. Moreover, the game shows off their improvement. 

“I remember that day we were going against Hylton. That day I could only focus on the loss we had the previous year. [It felt] like this time was something new and a chance to get them back, or a redemption. This feeling made me really determined to try my very hardest and do everything possible to prevent them from winning. As a defense, I just focused on ways to keep the ball on the other side of the field, or as far away from our goal as possible. I think that’s usually the mindset I have during games but this time I sort of pushed myself more to prevent scoring,” said Alexia Interiano, who plays defense for girls varsity lacrosse.

On Tuesday, April 11th the Osbourn varsity team played a game against Osbourn Park. Osbourn won 10-8, the first time to beat OPHS since 2009. This was one of the team’s most awaited games, especially since they would be playing against one of our rival schools. The team made many impressive goals, in this case, Izzi’s backhand throw. Altogether, OHS did an amazing job and had an amazing game.

Junior varsity has also had amazing games and scrimmages over the course of March. Some of their highlights included: March 2nd and March 16th. March 2nd was junior varsity’s first scrimmage and first competition against anyone this season. They went against Annandale and ended the game with no points scored from both Annandale or Osbourn. Heyle Cortez shared what this scrimmage was like and all of the things she was feeling during the game.

“My favorite scrimmage was our first one against Annandale because that’s the first one I ever played full court. I was a starter in the whole game. We tried our best to not let them score and they didn’t. I ran a lot because of all the adrenaline, I don’t really run so me doing that was just like wow I did that. I also got a lot of turf burns,” said Heyle, who plays midfield for girls junior varsity lacrosse.

On the 16th of March, junior varsity played their first game. This was against Hylton and the team had many big achievements, both as a team and as individuals. 

“I really liked our first game of the season against Hylton, because it was the first game I didn’t get subbed out which meant I got to play the entire time, it made me feel useful, and I got to do a bunch of stuff. Although my favorite part about that game was that I scored my very first goal,” said Kiara Picardo, attack player for girls junior varsity lacrosse.

Later on April 13th, both varsity and junior varsity played John Champe. This was junior varsity’s first 7v7 since JCHS didn’t have enough players. Additionally, this was their first win of the season; they scored 6-5. Varsity also played a full game and sadly lost 0-25.

 Overall so far this year the varsity team has won 6 out of 8 of their games while the JV team has won 1 out of their 3 games. The girls have improved a lot from last year; excitingly, varsity is expecting to make it to the final playoffs. The lacrosse family was excited to welcome some new players this year and they are making a tremendous amount of effort.

Coach Riley is beyond excited about this year’s team. He was thrilled to say “Halfway through my 14th season coaching girls lax at Osbourn I wanted to reflect on how much you all mean to me. Words cannot express the pride I feel coaching this collective group of students/athletes. I love the hard work and dedication of the JV team and your commitment to helping build this program, and the varsity team is the best TEAM I have EVER coached period…end of story. I hope you will all continue your quest for excellence; we are on the cusp of something special.”

Stay tuned for additional updates as the season progresses!

Both varsity and junior varsity played against Freedom on Monday, April 17th. Junior varsity played a 7v7 30-minute game with the thought of a normal 12v12. They sadly lost 2-8. While varsity played a full game, also lost 1-18. OHS struggled in this game as Freedom had very fast players. 

Their next game was a home game on Monday, April 24th against Patriot. Junior varsity lost 1-8. The point they scored was amazing, players said. Patriot has many players who play lacrosse year-round which makes them skilled opponents.

Monday, May 1st was the junior varsity’s last game this season. They, unfortunately, lost 2-14 to Battlefield. That was the only game the junior varsity played that week. 

“That day we were put in a position we don’t usually play. Going against Battlefield was something that just felt different. Their players played a lot differently than other teams, they were faster, stronger, and better overall. Battlefield scored a lot which was bad for morale and kept us running. All that running was really tiring and led us to feeling drained.”  said junior varsity Midfield player Heyle Cortez.

Varsity also played that week and went against Battlefield. Unfortunately, they lost 19 to 4. They struggled the same as junior varsity had, against Battlefield’s speed and strength.