KO girls varsity lacrosse, although starting the season 0-3, is still a strong team, and the numbers on the scoreboard do not represent the players on the field.
Sophomore midfielder and attacker Talia Coccomo expressed similar thoughts. “Our record doesn’t fully reflect our team’s strength,” Coccomo said. “As we’ve played very difficult teams, and it’s hard when they are stacked with recruits, but we work well together, as we did in our last game against Cheshire Academy.”
The team’s first game was against The Gunnery, who is always a strong group of athletes, and even though KO got a couple of goals past them, it was not enough to secure the win, as KO lost 13-4. Followed by that was Loomis Chaffee, which will be one of their toughest opponents all season, and they faced a hard 16-1 loss. Unfortunately, their next game got rescheduled to later in the season; however, this gave them much more time to prepare for their third game against Cheshire Academy, which was their best game yet. The final score was 11-9, in which they only lost by a few goals and definitely took advantage of their extra practice days. On April 17, the team had a big win over The Bancroft School with a final score of 17-8.
The team is built around many young, new players, and it will take time to find the groove; however, they will definitely be able to win many of the upcoming games. “I would describe this team as very young,” Head Coach John Hissick said. “We do not have any (healthy) seniors on this team and just a handful of juniors,” he shared. “We graduated some strong senior leadership and now have a new crew of captains, but we are in good hands. Ellory, Scarlett, and Sarah are off to a good start.”
These captains are definitely making a difference and building a strong team. Junior defender Captain Ellory Goodhue is a key player on the team and a great leader, too. Her leadership and guidance towards the rest of the team are amazing, and she definitely does not take the role of captain for granted. “Being a captain means I am someone the girls can go to and look up to, other than our coaches,” Goodhue said.
Goodhue and the rest of the captains and returning players try their best to welcome the most recent players in and to make them feel comfortable in this new atmosphere. “I think it starts with the culture of the team,” Coach Hissick said, “making sure we are welcoming in new players and sending a good message to all of them to make us successful.”
The most special thing about this team is that no matter how many goals they let in or how many mistakes they make, they are always having fun. While talking to Coccomo, she explained that even though they are not winning, this team is still fun to be a part of. “So far, my experience has been going pretty smoothly,” Coccomo said. “It’s been fun, and we’ve been able to laugh our way through the conditioning practices as best as we can.” Even though Coccomo is not a captain, she is still a vital part of the team.
With more than 10 games left in the season, this team has plenty of time to win and grow as a group. Also, with mostly lowerclassmen players and no key role seniors, this team will be able to create a bond that will follow into next year, leading them to success all the way into the 2027 season.
