St. Mary’s girls lacrosse hopes playoff return is in cards

Coming off a season that ended with a trip to the tournament, the St. Mary?s girls? lacrosse team is looking to come back even stronger this spring.
The Spartans finished 10-10 after a first-round loss to Manchester Essex in last year?s tournament.
Al Eaton, in his third year at the helm, has the team moving in the right direction. The Spartans won just three games the year before Eaton took over as head coach. After doubling their win total in Eaton?s first season, the squad pulled to .500 in 2014.
Eaton said he “hopes (they) can keep it going in that direction,” despite facing some tough competition.
?We?re certainly hoping to get in the tournament and then we?re at the mercy of the draw,” Eaton said. “We play a lot of teams in the (Catholic Central League), a bunch of very good programs. We?re hoping to have some good success against them this year.”
The Spartans will need to compensate for some holes left by five starters they lost to graduation, but Eaton feels confident they?ll continue to get better and earn a spot in the tournament again this year.
Among the returning players is midfielder Maggie Flaherty, who was the team?s leading scorer in 2014 and will be a key offensive threat. Erin Mahr and captain Nicole Lapointe return to anchor the defense, along with captains Jaci Dow and Emma Harvey, the starting goalie.
One obstacle the Spartans will have to face ? like most teams in the region ? is the inability to practice on an outdoor field for what could be a long time. Official practices for the Spartans begin this week, and Eaton said there are some crucial aspects of their game that can only be properly executed outdoors.
?Every year, we try to improve the program, and we made great strides at the end of the year in our transitional game, and you really need a full field in order to work on that,” Eaton said. “It?ll be really hard to teach the new girls our system in transition, and refresh the returning players the way we?re trying to attack and defend.”?
The Spartans will open up their 2015 campaign at home on March 30 (assuming that the snow melts) in a league matchup against Archbishop Williams at Manning Field.Katie Morrison can be reached at [email protected].