Although girls’ lacrosse lost to Holy Family Catholic 3-18, assistant coach Lauren Bruun-Bryant said they improved on certain skills after beginning its outdoor practices, reaching an overall record of 2-3.

“They now know how to transition which is the whole point of the game. Their draws have excelled exponentially,” Bruun-Bryant said. “Our draw is completely different than what it was at the beginning of the season which is great because if you control the draw you control the game.”

Sophomore Aliviah McClinton said goals and self-esteem proved their biggest challenges in their game.

“The effect of all the goals scored on us had an emotional impact on the team,” McClinton said.

According to senior Katie Fredrickson, despite the disappointing results, one of the team’s strengths at the April 30 competition was their mental game.

“I think (the game) was pretty rough especially in the first half, but I think we really stepped it up in the second half,” Fredrickson said. “We had a good positive attitude throughout the game which is not easy to do especially when your losing by 15 goals, so I think that was a good thing.”

McClinton said the team’s scores improved dramatically as the game progressed.

“From the first half to the second half we definitely improved a lot with defense,” McClinton said. “The score difference in the second half was only 2-5  and the first half was 1-12.”

Bruun-Bryant said the team excelled on defense and stayed mentally involved in the game.

“The defense did not give up which is important especially with high scoring games like this and it kinda seems like nothing is going your way,” Bruun-Bryant said. “They did not get down on each other, they were not yelling at each other, which I think speaks to their character a lot more than anything else.”

Fredrickson said even though they have not held many outdoor practices, the team is taking advantage of their opportunities to be outside.

“We haven’t had a lot of practice time outside, but I think that it is a really good sort of like preseason play before we get into our real conference games,” Fredrickson said.

The next girls’ lacrosse game is against Chaska at 6 p.m. May 8 at the St. Louis Park High School stadium.