Following a loss on April 20 Hopkins-Park boys’ lacrosse focused on their performance and aimed high for their match-up against Minnetonka on April 26. According to junior Jair Romero, he is proud of the effort the team has been making to better their game, but wants it to be more consistent and shown throughout the entirety of their performance.

“Tonight, we were coming off a loss and had been training a lot to better ourselves as individuals and as a team,” Romero said. “Although we did a lot to prepare, we could have gone harder in the beginning of the game. The majority of the team tried their hardest, but if we want to compete with better teams, we need to put more effort in.”

For freshman Finn Zollicoffer, the game was disappointing, but he said it helped the team to recognize the aspects of the game in which they could become better.

“Of course, the score was disappointing, and the game was definitely not one of our bests,” Zollicoffer said. “But, we deserve credit for the good moments and plays we did have. That level of play needs to become our entire game.”

According to assistant coach Elliot Carson, the team has been working hard in practice to prepare for these competitive games and will continue to do so. He said he hopes the team will gain more confidence through practicing and focusing on the strengths of players.

“We’ve had the players watch film and focus on practicing to become more consistent,” Carson said. “We’ve been drawing up several plays based on our players’ strengths on the offensive. We have a few really fast players, a few that are good at dodging and we are looking at shooters. We are now working to put all of this together so that we can break down their (competitors’) defense, and get the ball where it needs to be.”

For junior Raul Sanchez-Sandoval, the game showed where the team should put their focus towards and the steps they can take to get there, and he is excited to progress throughout the season.

“We are anxious to get back to work and focus on our game,” Sanchez-Sandoval said. “We know our strengths and weaknesses, but we need to use that to our advantage. We really need to focus on our defense.”

According to Carson, the outcome of the game did not demonstrate the efforts of the players, as players were becoming better as the game went on. 

“Tonight, you look at the score, and that’s not where we want to be,” Carson said. “It would be nice to come back and show (Minnetonka) what we’ve got at the end of the season, but we only play these (conference) games once. But, if you look at it this way, we started off really rough, and by the end of the game, we were right there with them.”

Hopkins-Park boys’ lacrosse will take on Minneapolis at 10:30 a.m. on April 29, at South High School.