When senior captain Annie Van Pilsum-Johnson first started playing lacrosse seven years ago, she said she immediately fell in love with the game.

“I started playing because I did not have a spring sport, so I joined lacrosse,” said Van Pilsum-Johnson. “I loved the teammates and the team involvement. I kept playing and never regretted it.”

According to head coach Katie Gliske, she chose the captains for their leadership on and off the field.

“We really trust them to not only lead by example on and off the field, that includes being on the field on time, leading with kindness but also doing the same off the field,” Gliske said.

Junior captain Grace Lynch said her friends, who were already involved in lacrosse, introduced her to the sport.

“I started playing because my friends were, and I wanted to try something new, but I play now for my passion and love for the sport,” Lynch said.

Senior captain Maddie Lund said one of her favorite things about lacrosse is being a part of the team and working together.

“I like the idea of being a cohesive unit and all playing and fighting for one goal,” Lund said.

According to Gliske, the captains were selected by their teammates and coaching staff.

“We expect them to be doing well in school and really be role models for especially the younger players on the team,” Gliske said. “They were all selected because we know we can trust them to withhold the ideals that we expect both on and off the field.”

Lund said she looks forward to seeing how the team develops despite the loss of many seniors last season.

“My goal for the team is to really become one cohesive unit this year because I think having lost a lot of seniors last year, I think we lost a big part of the passion from our team and I really want to bring that back this year especially with having a bunch of new freshman on the team,” Lund said.

Van Pilsum-Johnson said she is excited to see how the team performs this spring.

“I’m most excited to see how this team changes because we really don’t know how we’re going to look because we lost most of our starters last year,” said Van Pilsum-Johnson.

Lynch said, as a captain, it is her job to make sure everyone on the team has fun.

“My role is to make sure everyone is loving the sport and there because they want to, not because they have to,” Lynch said.

According to Gliske, tryouts will begin the Monday after spring break, April 2. Visit gopark.org for more information.

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