by Nick Clingan and Ryan Hayes

As quickly as the Winter season has left us, the spring season has promptly arrived. With the change of season arrives the different sports that are played, such as boys’ and girls’ lacrosse, baseball, softball, and boys’ and girls’ track and field.

The Oakdale Girls’ lacrosse team has been preparing for this upcoming season ever since the end of their last. The girls worked extremely hard in the offseason to become better conditioned and well-rounded lacrosse players, especially the seniors. With this being the last year for the senior girls, they want to make sure that everyone is mentally and physically focused on giving it their all this year.

The seniors that will be graduating this year are Caroline Jaworski, Sara Parnes, Hannah Clingan, Emma Bowman, and Melissa Semkiw. All of these girls have been greatly influenced the past three years from their coach, Mrs. Beth Nave. With her help and coaching, most of these seniors have committed to play lacrosse at the next level. Jaworski and Bowman have signed to play Division 1 lacrosse at the University of Oregon. Parnes has signed to play Division 1 lacrosse at the University of Michigan, where she will be joining past teammate Carly Heine. Semkiw has signed to play Division 1 lacrosse at George Mason University.

The Oakdale girls’ lacrosse has made a good reputation for themselves over the short amount of years they have been together. They have truly made a statement in the state of Maryland. First they made it to the state championship in 2014 while also making the top 10 of the state rankings year in and year out.

Senior Sara Parnes says, “I think we will do well as long as we continue to work hard and practice and continue to push each other.”

Although the girls are known to play well together, they have a seemingly tough schedule this year.

“Dulaney High School will be a difficult matchup for us, along with Agnes Irwin High School in Pennsylvania, but my personal goal is to win every game as possible and to prepare myself for the collegiate level,” explained Parnes.

Last year, the Bears sadly fell to the Middletown Knights early in the playoffs but were still pleased with each individual’s overall performance and effort. The Bears were led by senior Carly Heine as well as senior Emily Delorenzo, both huge scorers and contributors for the girls in 2015. This year losing those two key leaders has forced for some of the younger girls to step up; one of those leaders is Senior Defensemen Caroline Jaworski (Oregon).

Looking back at the season last year, Jaworski mentioned, “We were a little disappointed after our loss to Middletown in playoffs; I thought we would go further. Although we did well in the regular season!”

Jaworski described the strengths of this year’s team and what advantages she felt the Bears have over other teams: “Very positive, we have a lot of young girls stepping up, and we are very fast” she replied.

Finally, their overall goal throughout this season, Jaworski simply exclaimed “A state championship!”

The Bears certainly do have a lot of adversity to overcome this year, the biggest one seeming to be working as a team. More importantly, they need to find leaders to step up as a senior group and lead the team, as they have done in the past. Although with Coach Nave’s historic success and the girls dedication, this seems to be another good year for the Oakdale girls’ lacrosse team. Although graduating a number of key girls, a team still consisting of an astonishing seven college commits is still a team to be feared and taken very seriously.

Just because certain girls have not yet been picked up by a college doesn’t mean anything. Coach Nave will be looking for big numbers and plays from Senior Hannah Clingan and Junior Erin Hoyle.

Overall, the Bears are looking for another stellar season and seem to be making a strong run for states.

Photo Courtesy of: The Frederick News Post