Golda Och Academy girls' lacrosse team
Editor’s note: The following article was written by Etai Barash, a junior at Golda Och Academy. It was published in The Flame, the school newspaper at GOA.
WEST ORANGE, NJ – Students may have seen their humorous “Relax! It’s just a club” sweatshirts roaming the halls in school, but Golda Och Academy’s junior varsity girls’ lacrosse team is quickly gaining a reputation.
“A lot of people take our team as a joke,” freshman Danielle Hodes said. “The first win is changing that.”
After capturing the team’s first victory ever, defeating Benedictine Academy, 11-8, GOA is proud of its first major accomplishment.
“We all worked together and covered for each other,” junior Miriam Morris said.
Without that cooperation and hard work, the team easily could have lost the tight contest.
“It was a great moment for the team (after a season-and-a-half of hard work),” junior Iris Berman added.
The game itself was neither pretty nor easy. The first half of the game was played without goalies, as Benedictine Academy forgot their goalie equipment. Additionally, the field was misaligned, causing some confusion for both sides.
However, once goalie equipment was found and goalies were substituted in, the GOA team faced a difficult task: they only had one substitute, leading to great fatigue, especially for the midfielders.
As a result, they “had to switch positions every couple minutes,” Morris said. This discontinuity could cause difficulties. However, the team overcame them.
Junior Carly Paternite praised teammate and second-half goalie junior Rachel Bonder.
“She played great,” Paternite said. “Without her, it would have been much harder to win.”
The first victory meant a lot to the team, which was founded last year. The inaugural season was a difficult one. Their lack of experience and the complexity of the sport troubled the team, which finished with an 0-6 record.
“[Last year] we were not expecting to win many games because it was our first year,” Morris said. “Girls lacrosse has a lot of rules, and it took us a while to learn all of them.”
Even the transition from last year to this year was turbulent.
“The whole season started out with a lot of uncertainty,” Morris said.
The team did not have enough players and did not even have a coach at the beginning of the year. Luckily, they managed to recruit new teammates and hire three coaches whom Morris described as “incredible.”
The team has provided the girls with a fun outlet for all the energy built up during the school day.
“We are all about having fun,” Paternite said.
Bonder added, “It is a great way to get outside and exercise while having fun with my friends.”
After the team secured its first victory, Bonder said, “this win has given us the confidence and momentum needed to hopefully keep winning!”
Fortunately for her, Bonder was correct, and the team secured its second-ever victory, again against Benedictine Academy, finishing the season with a record of 2-6.
After such a groundbreaking season this year, many of the team members are hoping for an even better season next year, as many current sophomores and freshmen prepare to step up to take the place of this year’s juniors, who will be in Israel for next season.
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