Hopkins-Park boys lacrosse caught their sixth win against Breck on May 23, ending their conference season with a 6-7 record. They defeated Breck 14-5, giving the team a positive boost pre-sections.
According to varsity coach Jeff Rounds, the Hopkins-Park boys played a level of lacrosse that was much higher than Breck, even being able to play JV boys in the game and getting them some varsity time.
“We all felt great, we kicked some butt and we’re a lot better than they were,” Rounds said. “We were able to get everybody to run, which was good.”
Sophomore Finn Zollicoffer said the team has gotten substantially better throughout the season, considering they’ve had quite a few close scoring games.
“We’ve improved a lot because we’ve had closer games. Now we’re blowing out teams,” Zollicoffer said.
Rounds said this game was a solid win for the team, which brought along a lot of positive attitude. He said the win got them running and pumped for the first round of sections.
“This was our last regular season game before sections, so we had a good win today and everybody was happy,” Rounds said. “It got us some momentum going into that first game in the sections.”
Senior Martin Gablenko said it is a different feeling playing in Park compared to Hopkins or away games. He said the feeling of the field is different from place to place, but also it’s a different atmosphere.
“Playing at home does feel different because it’s different turf,” Gablenko said. “But it’s also just different from the Hopkins stadium.”
Senior Javier Schimming said playing at home was redeeming for him because his ninth grade season the team was very bad, so it was good to end playing there on a win.
“It was nice because I have some bad memories from the ninth grade season playing here,” Schimming said. “That ninth grade season we lost every single game, back when the team was just Park.”
Rounds said the boys didn’t play an individual game and really worked together. He said they were respectful and clean, and really played beautifully.
“We played as a team with no selfish play, and nothing dirty. We kept it classy and really played art,” Rounds said.
Hopkins-Park’s next game, and their first round of sections is against Rogers May 29 at 6:00 PM.
