“Our main philosophy is doing our best,” coach Rick Reidt said.

Winning sectionals and state are long term goals of the girls lacrosse team, but they are not their sole focus. Beyond competition, the girls lacrosse team focuses on developing character qualities and building bonds between members of the team.

The girls lacrosse season begins April 4, and the state tournament will be held from June 11-15. They will face 13 other teams before competing in the section tournament and possibly the state tournament.

Junior Meredith Parry will start her ninth season of lacrosse this April. An attack player for varsity, Parry hopes to become captain next year. After she graduates, Parry wants to continue playing lacrosse and has been looking into applying for Lindenwood University in Missouri.

Current girls lacrosse captain and midfielder Ellie Fedorowski said, “Meredith is very dedicated to the sport and she puts her best efforts in.”

Fedorowski, fellow captain Sami Chang and three others are the only seniors on the 60 girl team. Their duties as captain include attending special practices, organizing the teams, coaching and encouraging everyone.

“We have to push everyone to do their best,” Fedorowski said. “We’re the leaders and everyone looks up to us. All the other seniors have to step up too, we are all kind of captains.”

Reidt has been with the team since it formed 12 years ago, and was helping out before then. He first got involved 15 years ago, when his youngest daughter Emily Reidt had started lacrosse, then still a club.

Lacrosse was a relatively new sport to Minnesota, and there were not many coaches Reidt said, “I showed up at youth lacrosse and said, ‘you need help?’ and they said, ‘You’re in charge.'”

With years of athletic experience stretching as far back as his own high school days, Reidt knows what the team needs. Reidt already has each day of practice planned out for the next eight weeks where the girls meet six days a week starting around 5 p.m.

“We practice on the field for about 100 minutes each day,” he said, “and then usually a couple days a week we have weightlifting, which is 20 minutes. About two days a week. We have about 30 minutes of yoga.”

With less than three hours between school and practice, the girls must focus on finishing important homework. Despite the time crunch, the girls rarely miss practice. Absences are low to the point where the coach can count the number of absences from last season on his hand. Part of the reason is that practice provides an opportunity for the girls to hang out with each other.

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” Fedorowski said, “It’s a family, we all encourage each other to do the best that we can. I enjoy going to practice and I want to be there and do the best that I can and help other people do the same.”