The Chiefs are determined to get off to a fast start this April.
It may be a new season with a new head coach for Cherokee High School girls lacrosse, but the team wants to carry over the momentum it built at the end of 2016.
The Chiefs’ 2016 season got off to a poor start as the team lost nine of it first 10 games. However, Cherokee turned things around in the second half, winning six of the last 10 games.
With all but three players from the 2016 team returning, the Chiefs are excited to build off the improvements they made at the end of last season.
“We only lost three seniors from last year, so all of the momentum that we have from last year can definitely keep going,” senior Devon Fitzpatrick said. “We’re all returning, and I think we all have a really good connection.”
The Chiefs’ new head coach is Jeff Niederberger, a long-time assistant coach with Cherokee’s boys lacrosse program. Niederberger said while there will be a bit of an adjustment with the different rules between the boys and girls game, much of the skills remain the same.
“Some of the terminology has to change a little bit,” he said. “But skills are the most important thing, so a lot of things translate.”
“He coached boys for a long time, so I think he brings a different perspective to girls lacrosse,” senior Katie Kopper said. “It’s not just the same old plays and formations that we’ve been doing for the past four years.”
One of Cherokee’s strengths is on defense, where Fitzpatrick and Kopper were both named to the all-conference second team last year. Both players feel their chemistry will allow the defense to be stouter in 2017.
“We know how we play, and a lot of the girls know as well,” Kopper said. “It’s more instinctive now.”
“We build off each other, too,” Fitzpatrick added. “We’re very competitive. We get into fights because we want to get more ground balls than the other.”
On offense, Cherokee returns junior Gab Bodine, who scored 57 goals for the Chiefs in 2017. Niederberger said there are a number of other key offensive players who he feels will be able to contribute on the scoreboard this season.
Niederberger believes having so many returning varsity players allows for better competition for starting jobs in camp.
“I think we’re fortunate we have 14 letterwinners,” he said. “We have some strong underclassmen that had good JV and freshman season teams. Right now, we’re looking to see who’re going to fill spots and earn jobs.”
Regardless of who’s in the lineup, there’s an upbeat feel for Cherokee this preseason. Kopper said last year, the team got really down during its early season losing streak. She said the same thing will not happen in 2017.
“This year, we’re going to take every loss very personally and very to our hearts,” she said.
Fitzpatrick is confident this year’s team will be able to contend with some of the best in the Olympic Conference.
“I think we’re going to be very competitive with the top teams, your Lenape, your Shawnee,” she said. “I see us hanging with them all year.”
