On Monday night, Huntley’s varsity girls lacrosse team faced Lake Zurich in their first ever IHSA playoff game. Lake Zurich, who was visiting Huntley for the second time this season, had previously beaten the Red Raiders 17-2 in their first game of the season.

Now by the end of season, with much improvement by both teams, the Lake Zurich Lady Bears defeated Huntley 18-4 once again to knock them out of the playoffs.

Starting the draw off for Huntley was sophomore Katie Zarembski. Lake Zurich recovered the ground ball and settled the ball on Huntley’s end early on. This pressure on Huntley’s defense led to many scoring opportunities for Lake Zurich.

Along with the shots, came several saves from Huntley’s starting goalie, Kelsey Werner.

“It was exciting, but everyone had a bad mindset going into it so we didn’t try as hard,” said Werner.

By halftime, the Lady Bears were up 12-3 on the Red Raiders. Despite the high scoring on Lake Zurich’s end, Huntley never gave up. They kept fighting for ground balls and shooting until the last seconds of the game.

This first playoff game was history for the Huntley girls lacrosse program.

“It was like any other game,” said sophomore Madison Kerley. “It was fun, but really stressful because it was a playoff game so you want to advance.”

No game was an easy one for Huntley this season. Playing as a varsity team for the first time proved to the coaches and players just how tough this sport is becoming.

“We’ve improved a lot,” said Kerley. “It’s hard since we are a newly starting varsity sport, to compete with other varsity teams when they have been playing for much longer than one or two years like we have.”

Looking ahead to next season, with a bit more varsity experience on their backs, the girls will go into the season hoping to improve just as much as the past year.

“Next season the work ethic is going to be different, and hopefully the results will be too,” said Kerley.

Lake Zurich faced Palatine on May 18. Results yet to be determined.