Spring Sports Preview: New Coach, Fresh Start for Herndon Boys Lacrosse

Spring is trying its hardest to make its way to Herndon this month, but if it doesn't show on time there is another season that won't be tardy—lacrosse.

The sport of lacrosse has grown exponentially in popularity during the past decade at Herndon High and this year was no exception.

Coach Dave Baggetta has taken the helm for the varsity lacrosse team in his second stint in the past decade as head coach of the Hornets. The new coach hired a team of five assistant coaches and kept one from the previous staff who actually played for Baggetta during his first term as Herndon’s head coach.

“I am actually really pleased with the group of assistants we have and normally it takes a while to build a coaching staff, and to be able to get the guys we have this early has been one of the big achievements so far," he said.

Baggetta said he is also impressed with the turnout in preseason and said the guys have shown a high level of excitement during practice.

“I feel like the kids have a lot of energy and are excited about the things we are doing and the season starting,” he said. “We had over 70 kids try out which is more than we had last year. We also had a lot of freshmen and sophomores that had not played the sport come out which is nice because it shows excitement.”

Although the team has several new faces, a dozen players have returned to the varsity squad from last year.

“We have 27 players on varsity made of 13 juniors, 12 seniors, one freshman and one sophomore,” he said. “Two of those seniors have never played before and will be able to contribute at some point during the season.”

Because this is his first year back at Herndon, Baggetta realizes it will take longer to get the team up to speed with his philosophy and scheme. But the coach said he was excited to see the returning players adjust to his offense on the practice field.

“We have slowly been adding new things but we still don’t have all of the concepts in. That is a process and you are not going to come in and teach 10 different offenses in the first couple weeks because you need to mix the time you work on skill with the time you are working on scheme,” he said. “I think we find a pretty good balance and as we go on and they will learn quicker because some of the things will become repetitive to them.”

Baggetta said he does not ever want his senior players to feel that he is solely working for the future. He believes it is possible to for a new team to have success given hard work and chemistry.

“I want to give them the best opportunity possible to be successful now but also understanding we are laying the groundwork for future success as well,” he said. “I work as hard as I can to put them in the position to succeed for the short term and obviously the long term as well.”

The coach has an open door policy with his players and believes building a strong relationship with his team is crucial in order to succeed.

“I have a lot of individual conversations with players after practice to try and build coach and player rapport,” he said. “I think the approach we have taken in communicating has allowed for a smoother transition.”

Baggetta said improvement, hard work and pride will lead to success and happiness for his players.

“I want to see them have a program they can take pride in. I want to see them improve every day as a lacrosse team and as individual lacrosse players and whether that is through physical skill or an understanding of the game so they realize they are working towards something,” he said.  “If they take care of some of those things what they will naturally do is build a foundation that will lead to success immediately and future success as well.”

Herndon will play at Fairfax High at 7:15 p.m. on March 17 in the season opener.