By BEN MCCARTY
News staff writer
March 11, 2008

The members of the Hood River Valley girls lacrosse team will be part of a bit of history this season.

It will be the first season as a varsity sport for the team. Much of the core group for a team that dominated at the junior varsity level as a club team last year returns, but they know that this year will be a whole different ballgame.

The Eagles will be debuting in the Tri-Rivers league, arguably the most difficult in the state, and will be facing state powerhouses in Lakeridge and Lake Oswego.

“This is going to be a taste of the real lacrosse world,” senior Sara Evans said.

The challenge of moving up to the varsity level has been compounded by the tough time the Eagles have had getting their team ready this year.

Many of the lacrosse players are on the ski and snowboard teams, and will not finish their winter seasons until this weekend. Others played on the girls basketball team which finished playing last week.

And while teams like Lakeridge and Lake Oswego have established programs, the Eagles are still teaching raw recruits.

“There are some girls that just came out two days ago,” Evans said.

The coaches and players willingly admit that they have challenges in front of them, but that is not diminishing their excitement.

“This is so exciting to be giving these girls the experience of playing at the varsity level,” Eagles coach Margaret Koenig said.

The Eagles dominated much of last season at the JV level and most of the group that helped in that run returns this year, and they are ready to show the younger players how it is done.

“We want to start off the building of a strong program,” Jen Hanners said.

For sure, there will likely be some tough times for the Eagles this season, but Koenig hopes to see her team take lessons from every game, win or lose.

“I’m hoping to see consistency and composure,” she said. “I want them to play their game no matter who we are playing.”

She is happy that the team at least gets to start the season at home, and then has five away non-league games before league play starts in April.

Those non-league games, which will all be tough contestants with likes of Sheldon and West Salem will give the team a chance to jell before diving into league competition.

“As we band more as a team it will all start coming together,” Hanners said.

Its that “coming together” part that Koenig would like to see happen, particularly with so many new faces.

“We don’t even really know what we have yet,” she said.

The Eagles know that this year will not be an easy one, but they are excited to get the opportunity to face off against the best teams at the top level of competition.

“Well, good luck to us!” Hanners said.

The Eagles open their season with a home match on Wednesday against Tigard at Henderson Stadium at 7 p.m.