With last lacrosse season’s 21-0 season and state championship in the past, the Dominion Boys Lacrosse Team has to try to go back-to-back with higher expectations and tougher competition than ever before. They begin the tough road to another state championship tomorrow at 2pm against Lake Braddock (weather permitting).

Last year’s team contained almost all of their scoring and defense, with the loss of nine of ten starters, including their goalie, all of their defensemen, and the 4A State Player of the Year Chris Low all graduating.

“Leadership roles are going to have to be found this year,” assistant coach Andrew Fawkes said. “The loss of chemistry can be fixed if leaders develop throughout the year, but this season our depth is going to be what breeds the best product for us, and it will allow us to stay strong throughout the year.”

“Our main focus going into this year needs to be to expect to earn everything, we’re not basing our success off of what happened last year,” senior midfielder Josh Drake said.

“We just want to get back to where we were last year (state title),” Junior attackmen Kyle Kivinski said. “The loss of chemistry will be a problem, but we need to take it one game at a time this season and that (team chemistry) will get better over time.”

Loss of talent doesn’t seem to be a problem for this year’s team though, “We have a lot of young talent ready to play,” Junior midfielder Andrew Buchner said. “We need to have a next in line mentality.”

With a long spring season coming up, it is okay to look ahead to some challenges or games the season presents while still being able to stay focused on tasks at hand, and many of the players have their eyes on some games that are scheduled for this year. “I love the rivalry we have developed with Woodgrove,” Buchner said.

“Freedom and Riverside are who I’m most looking forward to playing, and it will be good to compete against 6A competition to see where we are,” Drake said.

The defensive unit is a key aspect to the sport, and last year’s team had a solid foundation of strong defense, which will only need to improve this year, “We lost our whole starting line from last year, and we knew we were going to have to work hard for this year,” defenseman Harrison Helmich said, “but this year, our communication and off ball defense will have to get better for us to succeed, and the middies need to step up defensively as well.”

“This season as a whole is going to be about coming together as a unit. Not just relying on talent, but putting the team above self, staying focused and never doubting what we can do,” Drake said.

A different story is going to be written for Dominion Lacrosse this year, what will it be?