The boys’ lacrosse team at Berkeley High School (BHS) is back in action. “Compared to the past three years, the team vibe and chemistry is there this year,” senior and captain Mateo Navarro said. “We all have the same goal: to make Berkeley High lacrosse a high caliber program again.”
For the past few years, the BHS boys’ lacrosse team has consistently placed fourth or fifth in their league standings. Last year, they placed fourth with a 5-11 record. Their limited success, said Navarro, can be attributed to their egotistical mindset where “everyone played for themselves instead of a single unit.”
BHS boys’ lacrosse coach Andrew Peritore said, “Ultimately, last year’s record was more of a reflection of our team discipline than of our skills.”
This year, instead of facing the challenge of playing as one unit, the boys’ lacrosse program has struggled with numbers. The program lost ten seniors to the class of 2018 and had low turnout at tryouts this year. “I think that if the larger school community had a better understanding of who our team is, what our values are, and how much fun lacrosse is, we would get the school community to come out,” Peritore said. Despite the numbers, both Navarro and senior on the team Ty Wenrick are confident about the coming season.
“This year what we lack is initial skill,” said Wenrick. “However we make up for it in our work ethic and discipline,” he continued. Peritore is also optimistic. “I have a lot of hopes for these guys as a result of their positivity, and their willingness to be coached,” Peritore said.
Both Navarro and Wenrick want the boys lacrosse team to return to the heights of 2009 and 2011 when the team had a perfect record of 10-0 and won their league.
Nobody can predict how the team will do, but one thing is certain: the boys’ lacrosse team ready to win a championship and put BHS lacrosse back on the map.