Boys’ lacrosse going strong

With a 18-15 loss against Woodside, a 15-12 loss against Los Altos and a 11-9 win against Carlmont, the Falcons are going strong with a 5-3 overall record and a 1-2 league score, earning them fifth place in the El Camino Lacrosse League.

Lead scorers include senior Tony Capek and Clark Rothenburg. Seniors Billy Hanford and Tim Fisher and junior Gino Caloiaro are leading the defensive side of the field.

 Even though most of the team’s players are relatively new to the sport, their athleticism and willingness to learn the basic skills compensates for their inexperience, said senior goalie Holden Peake.

“As a new team with [many] football players, it’s hard to get them to assimilate into a new sport,” said Peake. “We’re a little shaky now, but we’ll progressively get better [as the season progresses].”

Sophomore attack Quincy Owyang said the new players’ experience in other sports could provide an advantage to the team, since they are athletic and pick up stick skills really quickly.

Bill Kurz became the team’s new coach this year, replacing previous coach Larry Bohem.

“[Kurz] is focusing more on stick skills rather than running like last year,” Peake said. “He’s better at realizing that the team has lot of beginners.  He [scheduled] different games with a lot of teams we’ve never played before. They were pretty easy, so we could get that motivation we probably need for new players to not let them get discouraged.” 

While the last coach had them perform drills that would benefit a more advanced group, Kurz is focusing on basic skills that would help the new players get better.

According to Capek, the coaches, Kurz along with assistant coaches Gino Castillo and Santos Olmos, care about the players enjoying the sport rather than them winning every game.

Owyang predicts the team will have a stronger finish than last year, when they placed 29th in the Central Coast Section league and will see better results in their league.

“We’re going really strong this year and the players are really strong,” Owyang said.