Going into the third year of the Rochester Lacrosse co-op, the team has high hopes for the upcoming season. Despite an underwhelming performance last year, many players on the team believe that they are due for a breakout season.

Last season they ended with a record of 4-11, but with three of those wins within the last sixgames of the season. Even with a disappointing record, Coach Brett Applegath remains hopeful because many of those losses were only by 1 or 2 points, and he says with “individual effort outside of practice, we have a good chance at improving a lot from last year.” Applegath also emphasized how the team was finally starting to come together at the end of the year, and with the limited number of seniors who left last year, there seems to be a big upside for the team.

Senior captain from Century, Layne Meyer believes this season is the time to make a deep run in sections because of a talented senior class that will be in their third year playing together in the high school program. He thinks this is possible if the team “puts in the work to take advantage of fast breaks and stops making the little mistakes.” 

During the opening faceoff, Layne Meyer fights through a Centennial defender to get possession.  

Another wrinkle to add to this season for the boys is a much harder schedule, but senior captain Max Erickson says he “looks forward to the challenge.” During the offseason, coaches and captains got together and decided that 6:00 a.m. practices before school would be the best way to prepare for the challenging season.

Looking for an opportunity to score, Max Erickson dodges past his defender.

Junior from Mayo, Aiden Anderson added that the expectation this year is “a strong winning season” due to captain practices and the club season where many players were able to play together and got reps to build chemistry that Anderson is hoping will translate to the high school season.

Many players say that the first 2 years of the co-op were quite the challenge due to changing coaches, routines, and  teammates, but after a few years of adjustment many players on the team believe they have had time to mesh together and are now playing as one cohesive unit. 

During a game against Centennial, Aiden Anderson sprints past his man.

The co-op was formed in the 2024 season and had a 2 year contract with the goal of increasing numbers to give the team a better chance to compete and win more games. During this past offseason, the board got together and decided 2 more years would be beneficial for the program, so the contract was extended.

Three games into the season, the team has shown glimpses of what coaches had been hoping for, but they are still struggling to pull together a full game playing well together. They currently have a record of 1-2.

Rochester lacrosse has its next game on Friday, April 22nd against Maple Grove, and they have their next home game on Monday, May 4th against Northfield.

All photos courtesy of Caroline Vitse