Despite moving up to a more challenging conference, the girls lacrosse team has shown the teams of OK White tier two who’s boss. With their undefeated season, there is a lot to celebrate. Even though midfielders and attack positions get a lot of praise for scoring the points, the defense and generals are often not recognized for their part of the team.
A lacrosse general is a defensive position that stands close to goal in order to stop potential shots on goal. One of the starting generals is senior Kate Nuffer, who has been playing lacrosse throughout her entire highschool career. Nuffer recognizes the growth the team has shown this year.
“Going into the 2023 season, I was nervous because we lost some good girls from past years, but we gained good girls too,” Nuffer said. “We just seem to be getting better and better.”
The senior class this year was not able to play many sports during freshman year because of the impact COVID-19 had on the world. Nuffer believes that this only motivated them to do better throughout the seasons.
“We went in [sophomore year] knowing that Northview is not that great at lacrosse, and in sophomore year, we won a conference championship,” Nuffer said. “The next year, we won it again, and this year, we were all nervous because we moved up a conference. But we are going to win that too.”
Even though the team has been exceptional this year, senior and lacrosse general Emily Hyde understands that sometimes the position she plays doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
“[The lack of recognition is] because defense doesn’t score goals,” Hyde said. “It’s not like there’s any way to measure our success. So it can be discouraging when you do a lot for the team, but there’s nothing to actually show what you’ve done.”
The defense can be blamed for a lot of negative things during games when mistakes should be attributed to both parts, offense and defense.
“It sometimes can be irritating,” Nuffer said. “[If the offense] loses the ball, it’s gonna come down to us [the defense], and we don’t do enough it seems like, because all we do is get the ball and give it back to the offense. If the other team scores, it is somehow our fault when it really is both sides’ faults.”
Assistant coach Henry Herman has been coaching girls lacrosse for almost 25 years and has found that he enjoys focusing on defense rather than offense.
“Offense always seems to get the attention,” Herman said. “I feel defense is the key. A great defense compliments a great offense, and it makes the team harder to beat.”
Herman believes that in order to make a great team, you must focus on teaching defense before teaching how to score goals.
“The key is to have a team that works together as one unit,” Herman said. “At any given time in a game, even the best offensive player will have to play defense. When both the offense and the defense work equally as hard and support each other then you have a great team.”
Fans want to celebrate the attackers who score, so it’s no surprise that the important role the generals play often goes overlooked.
“I just felt so much pressure when I was playing attack, because it’s not going to be worth it if I don’t score,” Hyde said. “When I’m playing defense, every action that I take is worth it, because we’re all working together.”
