From time to time, a feeling awakens inside all of us. The desire to do more, improve and deny our doubters the sweet feeling of confirmation is something that fuels the human population each and every day. The Palo Alto High School boys lacrosse team is no exception.
While this band of young men may appear to be just another group of regular Paly students, they are in fact one of the most compelling sports stories of the year, with many a player shrouded in a cloud of mysterious vapor known as determination.
The team, wasted no time getting off to a great start. It appeared as though they looked to the weather for guidance, raining down 15 goals on their first victim, Archbishop Mitty High School.
“From the sidelines, I loved the way we executed against Mitty,” said senior captain Ryan Mitra. “We came out and scored a lot of goals early, which propelled us to the win.”
On March 2, the Vikings’ tsunami of terror met its next opponent, Menlo-Atherton High School. As Newton’s second law of motion describes the relationship between an object’s mass and the amount of force needed to accelerate it, it also described the Vikings’ relationship with Menlo Atherton High School: F=MA.
Indeed, the onslaught continued, as the Vikes poured in nine goals to trounce the Bears 9-4 in such a dominant fashion that demonstrated why grizzly bears no longer live in California.
The next day, the Vikes lost at home to Menlo-Atherton by the same score, and suddenly, the torrent that had brought the team 24 goals in two games had run dry. It seemed that even ceremonial rain dances could not save the team’s offense in this one, as they put up just a third of their average points per game. On March 9, the team welcomed their next opponent with open arm: Serra High School. The Vikes offense came ready to roll, scoring eight goals, but unfortunately, the Padres’ offense was too strong, scoring nine goals, forcing the Vikings into the depths of defeat for the second time in six days.
The team lost two of three games until the tsunami that is known as the Vikes returned. On March 23rd, the Vikings destroyed Mountain View High School 16-7. They faced off against rival Gunn the next day, trouncing the Titans by a score of 13-0.
The team looks forward as they review and reflect upon the first few games of the season.
“Our team has executed very well over the last few games,” Mitra said. “We’ve played great the last few games and our quality of play is only going to increase from here on out.”
