CCHS Lacrosse begins pre-season preparations

BY OLIVIA LEWIS

As the fall sports season comes to an end, the winter sports season is starting to pick up. A popular winter sport at CCHS is lacrosse. The girls varsity lacrosse team has won the district championship for the 2015-2016 school year, along with the 2016-2017 school year.

The Lady Cowboys fell short of the district championship last school year, losing to West Broward in the district semi-finals. However, the team plans on practicing extremely hard this year to redeem their title.

“I think our team is looking pretty strong this year,” junior Rylee Horton said. “A lot of us have been practicing year-round with our travel teams, so we should have a strong team.”

The head coach, Bill O’Connell, has coached the girls lacrosse team for the past three years, helping them win two championship titles. He originally coached at West Broward High School, where he also won district championships.

Coach O’Connell plans on starting conditioning early this year to prepare the players for the upcoming season. Conditioning for the girls team will begin after Thanksgiving break and will take place almost two to three times a week; the Lady Cowboys will either be running or in the weight room.

After conditioning, tryouts will take place, the date still to be determined. Following tryouts, a team will be picked and the girls will start working on stick skills, basics of lacrosse and team chemistry. The season doesn’t officially start until late February. In order to participate in any of these events, players will have to fill out the athletic forms on the Cooper City High School website, located under the “Athletics” tab.

“Honestly, the team last year was very good, we just lacked chemistry on the field,” junior Grace Barr said. “We all worked hard, and I’m hoping this year we can build off what we had last year, but come out stronger.”

As for the boys team, the coach hasn’t been decided yet because the school is still going through the interview process. Last year, Coach O’Connell and Coach Dominic led the team. The Cowboys made it all the way to district semi-finals, where they lost to Western in a very close game. Their conditioning will also start after Thanksgiving break with the girls, but all other dates have yet to be determined.

Both teams are very determined to win districts and make it all the way to states this year, so it is highly recommended that interested players show up at conditioning and tryouts.

“The boys team last year was really good,” senior Troy Rasberry said. “We were really close to winning, so I hope we can do that this season.”

Photo by The Lariat Photography