The Huntington junior varsity girls’ lacrosse team spent the season building for the future. The 19 player roster featured many promising players who need time to further sharpen their skills and develop.
The Blue Devils were coached by Chiara Maimone and Lauren Blackburn. “The girls on our team got along very well,” Maimone said. “They were always encouraging one another and they maintained a positive morale in most circumstances. There were a number of girls who made noticeable progress in their fundamental lacrosse skills, which bolstered their confidence and fostered their excitement about the prospect of returning next season. There were challenges that we faced as a team regarding attendance and injuries, however the JV girls’ lacrosse team remained positive and met these challenges together as a team.”
Eighth grader Isabella Palacios and sophomore Jannel Marroquin were the top players on the squad. Both of the teenagers were moved from defense to midfield midway through the season.
“Izzy was a very strong player for us this season,” Maimone said. “She approaches the game of lacrosse with tenacity and hunger for the ball. She was flexible with us when we moved her to a midfield position and again when we put her on the center circle for the draw. She was very successful with draw controls and she displays her willingness to be a team player.”
Marroquin developed into one of the Huntington JV’s top players. “She was elected as one of our team captains and took the initiative in helping to guide and lead our defensive unit at practices and games. Jannel has made tremendous progress as a player over the last few seasons and continues to be one of our hardest working players. She will often stay after practice to work on fundamental skills and clearly has a desire to better herself.”
The season contained many ups and downs, to be sure, but overall was a successful one. “We were able to develop the skills of several of our newer players and provided them with a supportive environment,” Maimone said. “We believe that our girls created strong bonds and new friendships through various team building activities during the season, which helped overall team morale.”
Where does the team go from here? “We are hoping that we will have most of this season’s JV team return for the 2023 spring season,” Maimone said. “We are also hoping we will have a large group of current middle school players that will be moving up to the high school come out for the team.”