Hopkins-Park boys lacrosse fell under .500 after losing to Hermantown/Proctor 7-10 on their senior night May 14. This loss brings their record to 5-6 on the season with two games left in their schedule. The team looks to finish the season strong and end with a positive record.
Senior Jair Romero said this game wasn’t the team’s best showing, and they have to start out strong in the future.
“The game went pretty bad. It was a team that we should have beat by a lot and we ended up losing,” Romero said. “We got to work on keeping our own momentum and starting with momentum going into a game.”
Head coach Jason Mestemacher said the team will be able to succeed if they can give their all for the entirety of a game.
“(We need) to play consistently throughout the whole game, and come and play our game that we used to play,” Mestemacher said. “The team did a good job of just coming together, staying focused, playing our game and getting back into it, but (it was) too little too late.”
Freshman Arbor Sterk said the team had basic goals in mind heading into their senior night.
“We just (wanted) to focus on our defense,” Sterk said. “To play good defense, have good clears and to make plays on offense.”
Mestemacher said the team had a rough first half, but finished the rest of the game very strong.
“It went well, (in the) first two quarters we started really slow, then we got into our game a little bit and we had to fight back,” Mestemacher said. “We did a good job with that but there was not enough time.”
Romero said he felt like he gained a lot from being on the team, whether it be friendships or teamwork.
“I will miss how close we are and I’m gonna miss everyone from the team,” Romero said. “I made some pretty good friendships (and) coach is probably one of my favorite coaches, if not my favorite coach I’ve ever had.”
Mestemacher said the bonds he’s created with this year’s seniors will be hard to let go when they graduate.
“I’ve coached all these kids since they were in kindergarten to third and fourth grade,” Mestemacher said. “I’ve coached almost all 17 of them so it’s going to be different without them here.”
According to Sterk, the seniors are leaving behind a gap in the team. He said other teammates will have to learn how to fill their shoes next season.
“(I’ll miss) the leadership; they were all good leaders,” Sterk said. “People will have to step up and be leaders, and we might not be as good because a lot of our seniors are really good, so we’ll have to step up.”
Hopkins-Park looks to right the ship during their next game against the Edina boys lacrosse team at 7:30 p.m. May 16 at the Edina Community Center.
