Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with newest Pine Crest boys’ lacrosse coach, George Harris.  Prior to coaching at Pine Crest, Coach Harris spent the last years 8 years coaching at Wittenberg College in Ohio, and before that, he spent time coaching at Harvard, Cornell, Colgate, and Skidmore. When asked about his expectations for this upcoming lacrosse season, he iterated how it will not be all about winning or losing but about fundamentals and learning to get better, regardless of the outcome of the game. In addition, building team chemistry and finishing as a better team is another huge goal for Coach Harris.

In the past few weeks, you may have noticed the lacrosse team preparing for the upcoming season across campus, which reflects Coach Harris’s belief of “lacrosse specific” running and lifting, despite the fact that the team is not allowed to do any activity with lacrosse sticks in hand until the official start of the season in the upcoming few weeks. Coach Harris has brought two of his former players from Wittenberg with him to Pine Crest, who he described as good, strong character people who adhere to his coaching philosophy and will be instrumental in coaching this season.

This season, the Pine Crest boys lacrosse team will look to takeover where they left off last year, going 5-0 in Districts and then winning the District championship.  They also sported an overall record of 13-5 before falling to rival Saint Andrews 15-8 in the 2^nd round of regionals. Several starters will return this season, including All-District junior defenseman McCoy Berger, All-District junior goalie Patrick Haley, All-District junior midfielder Zach Smith, junior midfielder Cody Shamon, and All-District attack man David Tescher. Pine Crest hopes to repeat as District champions in the tough district that they are in which includes schools such as Taravella, Calvary Christian, and rival Cardinal Gibbons. The future of Pine Crest lacrosse, Coach Harris, is looking to make sure you come out and support the team this year.