In the eyes of a player
Before their Dutchtown game, the girls’ lacrosse team stood at a 7-7 record overall, earning first in the region at 4-0. They were playing against Dutchtown, a school in northern Georgia.
Hayden Packer, a player on the girl’s lacrosse team, was confident in the team’s ability to perform well in the game.
“[I feel] good. We’re playing Dutchtown and it’s our last region game, and if we win that game then we’re area champs. I think we have a good chance of winning,” Packer said.
Packer explained how teams move through the playoffs during the season.
“So there are 32 teams in the playoffs. First round we will play and if we win we will make it to the Sweet Sixteen. And if we win in the Sweet Sixteen we make it to the Elite Eight. Meaning there’s eight teams left that are able to win state. And last year we lost the first round of playoffs so we didn’t make it to the Sweet Sixteen,” Packer said.
Packer said she wasn’t feeling too much pressure when it came to the upcoming game.
“Last year we got out of the first round of playoffs, which kind of sucked, but this year, we have a chance of getting to at least the Elite Eight,” Packer said.
The girl’s coach, Nick Bellantoni, has also completed his first year working with the team. He performed well in Packer’s eyes.
“I think he was like the perfect fit for what we needed. He’s a hard coach, but he understands all of us, and he takes extra time out of his day to really understand us and help us, “ Packer said.
In the eyes of the coach
Bellantoni himself explained that he didn’t feel a need to emphasize worrying about stats when working with the team.
“You know, we focused more on effort than we did stats. Stats can give you a little piece of the picture, but at the same time it creates a selfish atmosphere that we wanted to take away. We wanted to take away that selfish atmosphere and and [change] it more to, ‘Hey, I need to go ahead and pass it to the other person. I don’t need to worry about what my stats are.’”
He also wasn’t too worried when watching the girls play.
“[I knew we were going to win] when we were up four to nothing in the first two minutes of the game. At that point, you know, we pretty knew what was going to happen,” Bellantoni said.
The girls’ lacrosse team did end up sweeping Dutchtown with a score of 15-1, moving the team to the next set of rounds and a rank first in the region. Because of their win, the team will be able to play against other schools in the championships.
The team’s swing players, which Bellantoni explained were players that play on both the junior varsity and varsity teams, gained a lot of time on the field that Bellantoni felt was very beneficial for them.
“The highlight is that we had the majority of our swing players play almost three total quarters of the game, which gave them a lot of playing experience. It gave me time to evaluate them for the next year. It allowed the girls to go out and have a good time while also rooting on and cheering for the other players,” Bellantoni said.
Bellantoni is also looking to keep coaching next year, but he’s not looking to change too much as the girls move on to the championships.
‘I’ll probably change a little bit of stuff here and there. I tried to not go ahead and do a complete overhaul of the program when I first [coached the team]. I do things in slow, methodical ways to get everyone on the same page,” Bellantoni said.
The team played against Creekview High School on April 30, and lost 6-17. This was the second game in the playoffs so they will not move on to state.
