With the sun just starting to set behind the trees at Huntley High School, lacrosse players start to warm up for their next game. Being one of the first games of the season, either winning or losing could potentially set the standard for the rest of the year.
Eventually, one player from each team lines up in the center of the field. With the toss of the ball thrown in the air by the referee, the game had begun.
On Monday, Apr. 14, Huntley faced off against Naperville North. Being a home game, this was Huntley’s fifth game of the year.
“There are typically three games per week,” said Maggie Pupich, left attack Bobby Pupich’s mother. “The season usually starts at the beginning of April, and then playoffs will begin in May.”
Huntley had won the game 18-3, starting strong for the beginning of their season. Having a good track record within the past few years, players are confident that they will do well this year too.
“I feel like I did pretty well today, my shots were a bit off, but it’s all good,” freshman Jackson Domains said. “Huntley is a really good team actually, I feel like we are at least one of the top ten teams in the area.”
However, this is not to say that Naperville North was a particularly easy team to beat. With Naperville also historically doing really well, Huntley and Naperville were an even competition.
“I feel like [Naperville] does really well,” said Holland VanDoran, mother of defense Sam VanDoran. “They are in a really good area.”
With Huntley performing well in previous years, parents expect their success to continue. However, for some parents, this has led to some anxiety about the impending conference games later in the year.
“We have not lost a conference game in I do not know how many seasons,” Pupich said. “It is a lot of pressure because we can’t lose a conference game now because we have not lost a game in so many years.”
