Cedar Park Girls Lacrosse is often overlooked because of their lack of UIL status. However, this team should be anything but forgettable, continually improving and advancing to the state playoffs. With fifteen seniors this season, the team is at the top of their game, dominating every opponent they come across.

     Their first four games of the season were massacres, winning every game by fourteen points or more.

     “We’re like a big family,” Megan Havener, senior, said. “We don’t have lots of drama or cliques so we get along great.”

     Last year was a rebuilding season for the girls, after they lost multiple seniors to the class of 2008. They struggled to find chemistry on the field and were knocked out of the state playoffs after the first round.

     “[Last season] was really hard because all the seniors had left so we had a new team and had to work extra hard to get to state.” Bri Wilson, senior, said.

     This year is a different story however. The girls are friends on and off the field, allowing the team chemistry to come naturally. The raw talent the girls posses has only been heightened by their ability to work as a team. As most athletes know, a team sport can’t be won by a single player. A team could be full of a bunch of super-stars but potentially loose every game because they don’t work together, making team chemistry irreplaceable.

     “We’ve all been playing together for a long time so we know each other really well,” Havener said.

     The team has improved on offense and defense and their ability to work together is the secret behind their success. They are able to pass and move off the ball with ease and they have confidence in each other. Trusting that your teammates will do their job properly is half the battle of playing a team sport and these girls know that if a mistake is made, someone is right there to lend a helping hand. The team also has high moral, not letting slip ups get in the way.

     “We don’t get down on ourselves,” Mary Liz Tuttle, senior, said. “In the first half, if we’re losing, we come back. We call ourselves the cardiac kids.”

     They have two big opponents coming up, St. Andrews and Westlake. St. Andrews is consistently strong, placing high in the district rankings. The Lady Timberwolves will be looking to take down the champ. Westlake is also on their radar because of their new coach.

     “The UT club coach is coaching [Westlake] this year so they’ll probably be good,” Havener said.

     The Westlake coach is known by most of the girls on the Cedar Park team because she used to coach many of them on another club. However, this knowledge of the opponents coach could be useful. Knowing which plays the coach likes to call can be a huge advantage to the girls.

     The girls are looking to go undefeated in district and make it all the way in the state playoffs. With how their season is going thus far, it seems very likely they will be able to achieve their goal. They have the talent, determination and knowledge of each other and the game to accomplish all their goals and more. If they stay focused on the prize, nothing should stop these  girls.