This season, the Huskies won’t have the benefit of a home field advantage.

The girls’ lacrosse team, which made its debut last year and played its games at Hillcrest High’s stadium, will only host two “home” games this season. However, both will take place at nearby Brighton High’s fields because of construction work expanding the track to eight lanes around the field.

Despite the change, Coach Tucker Gamble remains confident in his team’s potential.

“We should win quite a few games because last year we came close in a lot of games, and we didn’t have any experience,” he said. “This year, they worked hard during the offseason and several of the players were playing in different leagues in our offseason and quite a few of them went to camps and clinics.”

The girls’ lacrosse program has 37 players spread across varsity and junior varsity teams, with a nearly even balance of upperclassmen and underclassmen.

“Most of our players are returning,” Gamble said. “We have a lot of talent coming in, too.”

Returning players include junior midfielder Claire McCann, who earned second-team all-state honors last year, junior midfielder Taylor Jones, who was named first-team all-region, and sophomores midfielder Josie Haddock, attacker Avi Mossman and attacker Sadie Benns, who earned second-team all-region recognition. However, both Mossman and Benns are out for the season due to injuries before the Huskies’ first game.

Gamble also highlighted three freshmen who made the varsity roster: midfielder Charlotte McCann, attacker Shayla Raider and attacker Anika Hardman.

When it came to scheduling, Gamble intentionally arranged for a matchup with Bear River High, the state champions in recent years, early in the season.

“I wanted their girls to see how they can do against the team and not be scared about it because they’re so highly ranked,” he said. “I also put Corner Canyon, which is a good team, mid-season on purpose so they have another challenging game. Waterford is a powerhouse. So, it will good to see how we do against these teams. The rest of the games, we should have a decent chance to win.”

The girls last regular season game is May 1 against Judge Memorial Catholic High School. The first round of state is May 13.

Many of the players have participated in open gyms to prepare for the season.

“We have the basics down and we’re conditioning, getting our agility and speed training, harder. I spent the whole offseason researching plays, both defensively and offensively, and we’re going to start work on those at practice. I set our schedule a little smarter, and I pushed our games back one more week so we can have an additional week before our games,” Gamble said.

Practices, held at nearby Union Middle School, are led by Gamble and his five assistant coaches. These practices also focus on mental health and overall preparation.

“During our cooldown, we always do something in relation to team bonding, like mindfulness exercises. We may have the girls compliment their neighbor on something they did well at practice or at school that day, or I’ll have them lay down on the grass, close their eyes and run them through different questions and scenarios to make sure they have confidence in themselves, and let go of stress so they can connect their feelings with their body. Basically, it’s a big thing in the PT (physical therapy) world, which is my profession, and it helps a lot with sports psychology, too,” he said. “They need to hear the good and positive to help them focus so they’re mentally ready and confident to play.” λ