From left: teammates Matt Kroskin Jack Danco and Ethan Oyeniyi celebrate after goal scored against Montgomery Blair High School.

Following their early playoff exit in the 2017-2018 season, the Walter Johnson boys’ lacrosse team left the field with something to prove. In his first year at Walter Johnson, head coach Peter Park came in with a regime change, which came as a culture shock to some of the players and teammates.

Despite their struggles last year, senior captain Robert Speier has confidence that the lacrosse team will be moving in the right direction.

“There is a different feeling around the team this year,” Speier said of coach Park. “[They] are confident in him and think [they] will find success throughout the rest of the season.”

Not only do leaders on the team feel confident, but so do the upperclassmen. With five sophomores and two freshmen, the boys lax team has one of the youngest squads at WJ. When asked about the teams youth, Speier again revealed that despite being a little worried and noting some inexperience among the young players, they “have been great when it comes to making plays and have always been great at listening.” This playmaking ability was on full display during the Wildcats season opener against Blair, as freshman J.P. Rakis notched a hat trick in the boys 9-3 win over the Blazers.

“At the beginning of the game I was nervous,” attack freshman J.P. Rakis admitted, “but as the game went on I grew more confident. My relationship with the upperclassmen on the team is very good, they make me feel a part of the team by supporting all of the younger and new players.”

Striving of their cohesiveness, the Wildcats jumped out to an early 1-0 record, yet faltered down the stretch, losing their next three games to Wootton,Whitman, and Churchill. Despite this stretch of difficult losses, there is still lots of optimism moving forward for the Wildcats, especially in getting prepared for their rivalry game against B-CC on April 15th.

“We’re all stoked to play B-CC,” senior Matt Kroskin said. “It’s gonna be a lot more fun this year especially since I’ll be getting more playing time too.”

With an easier schedule coming up, the boys are looking to overcome their losing streak, and take down B-CC, avenging their loss from last year.