As the Highland lacrosse team experienced their first loss of the season to Olympus High on Wednesday, April 4, they were hoping to bounce back and redeem themselves against their rival, East High, on Friday night. Nonetheless, after an intense game, East pulled out the win with a final score of 9-8.

As the final score indicates, it was a close game between both schools from the very beginning. Highland and East were tied going into the third quarter, 4-4, and Highland was only down by one point, 7-6, at the start of the fourth quarter.

Despite the loss, seniors Matthew Parkin, Elijah Shelton, Sam Whisenant, and Connor Lewis, as well as freshman goalie Lincoln Robinson, were all key players for Highland and made sure not to give up without a good fight. When Lewis got injured during the second half of the game, other players from Highland, such as Colton White and Gage Varanakis, stepped up.

“I thought we played very aggressive,” Parkin said. “We fought hard, but in the end we couldn’t pull it off.”

Strengths of Highland’s lacrosse team this year are that their offense and defense are very good when they want to be. However, when both offense and defense don’t work together, it becomes a weakness for them. But when everyone on the team is on the same page, the Highland lacrosse team plays very well and is unstoppable.

“We need to improve the little things like clearing, ground balls, and we need to stop ball watching for next week’s game,” Parkin said.

For their next game, Highland will be playing Copper Hills on Monday, April 9. Although Copper Hills is a very good team with a current record of 10-3, Highland has a good chance of winning if both their offense and defense work hard. The Highland lacrosse team wants to move on from this past week where they encountered their first losses of the season, and are hoping to get a much needed win on Monday night against the Grizzlies.