This time in 2021, Concord Christian girls’ lacrosse was just a couple months into its first season as a program and competed at the junior varsity level. Two years later, CCA – now a varsity team – sits at 8-4 in the Division III standings, good for fifth place.
In its first season competing at the varsity level, CCA has done just that: compete. The team has lost just four games all season, all against the top teams in the division.
“It’s great to see a first-year program show up, be really competitive,” said Hopkinton co-head coach Gus Madden after the Hawks beat CCA on Tuesday. “They’re probably ranked fifth in the division. They’ve had some more competitive games, so they’re only going to get better.
“It’s one of those teams you’re not going to want to see in the playoffs. Hats off to them for building this program and adding more to the New Hampshire lacrosse scene.”
It began when head coach Janine Muir was hired to teach at the school. Her daughters, Megan and Sarah, had played lacrosse growing up; they wanted to provide that experience at CCA.
Muir recruited athletes who competed in other sports at the school to come try it out.
“ ‘I’ll teach you the game. Just get goggles and sticks and show up,’ ” she remembered telling them. “It’s been a lot of fun (introducing) athletes to another sport.”
All of the players from the school’s girls’ basketball team, a roster of seven that took home the Division III state championship this season, are on the lacrosse roster as well.
Having only 14 players creates similar challenges to the low numbers on the basketball team. Perhaps fatigue plays an even larger role on the more expansive lacrosse field, as was the case for CCA against Hopkinton on Tuesday.
“The midfielders having to run tirelessly back and forth like that was just a little bit too much,” Muir said after the 18-10 loss. “Normally it’s not like that.”
The need for top-tier conditioning aside, the group picked up the sport quite quickly, as evidenced by a possible top-five finish in its first season as a varsity program.
At a school listed as having just over 100 students in ninth though 12th grades, per the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association’s classification handbook, it’s not like Muir had a large pool to pull from. Simply identifying and convincing the strong athletes to join the team has worked out, though.
“We taught them the game in real time,” Muir said. “I only had two who really knew how to play the game, and it just kind of grew from there.”
Lacrosse, for those who’ve never watched or played, certainly isn’t the easiest sport to just pick up. It requires strong hand-eye coordination and the ability to catch, throw and cradle the ball in the stick. There are also nuanced rules, from where certain players are allowed to stand on the field to what kind of contact is permitted.
For Muir’s group, it’s a learning experience, but one it’s been able to undertake while finding ways to win.
“All of them are out there, just playing another sport,” Muir said. “It’s kind of fun in that experience for all of them to be able to do that.”
CCA has three games remaining next week before the playoffs begin, and Muir hopes it has a few more wins left to cap off what’s already been a monumentally successful endeavor.
“It’s definitely been a really positive season so far,” she said. “We’ve played some strong games, and we’ve had some really good wins. I just hope that we can play like that the rest of the season and continue to improve our record going into playoffs.”