Sports
Mt. Hope Girls' Lacrosse Team Seeks Success in Division-I
After being a perennial contender in Division-II, the Mt. Hope High girls' Lacrosse team will look to continue its winning ways in Division-I.
The girls’ lacrosse team opened up the season at the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Injury Fund Round Robin Tournament at Cranston Stadium on Sunday.
Each of the 10 Division-I teams presented at the Round Robin played two 25-minute games with running time.
Mt. Hope suffered a pair of losses to two of the top teams in D-I Sunday, falling to North Kingstown High 9-2 and Moses Brown 7-2.
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“It’s the first time we’ve actually played together this season, so we’re just trying to see what works, what kind of combinations work and we have so much to work on,” head coach Kerri Ferreira said. “We did a good job, I was proud of them the way they brought the ball up and worked the ball around.”
It was the first taste of D-I competition for the Huskies, who moved up a division after playing as one of the top teams in Division-II for a number of years.
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“We knew coming up to Division-I that it was going to be a lot different than being in Division-II obviously,” Ferreira said. “We’ve been one of the top teams in Division-II for however many years. We’re definitely ready for the challenge, and you know we’ll see what the season brings.”
A key to the season for Mt. Hope will be how well they integrate their more experienced players with their youth this season.
“We’re a very young team, so we’re still trying to get the concept down of how we play defense and zoning it up,” Ferreira said. “They never give up, we never do, that’s one thing that I can always count on. They did work as a team, but there are just a lot of things that we need to work on to get better, to get to that level.”
The Huskies will rely on seniors Abbi Booth, Chelsea McWilliams, Abby Pattie, Mara Newland, Jessica Varricchione and Brittany Terra to bring leadership to this year’s squad.
“We have about six veteran girls who are going to have to step up as leaders and take this team to that level,” Ferreira said. “I need those girls to step up and be on their A game every game this year.”
Mt. Hope will kick off the regular season Tuesday, April 5, at 4p.m., against The Prout School at Ninigret Park, where they hope to begin their march for another playoff appearance.
“The number one goal is always to make the playoffs, that’s the goal we’re trying to get at and then we’ll go from there,” Ferreira said.
