By Syd Britt and Sam Hahn

Photo credit: Maggie Bowman via Instagram @maggeb_photography.

Boys varsity lacrosse team co-captain Warner Lewis (’24), who is committed to play lacrosse at the Virginia Military Institute next year, has high expectations for this season, including runs at state and Prep League championships. Part of these expectations arise because the team currently has eight college commits, and likely more to come.

Lewis stated, “We feel the pressure to perform well this spring because of how talented our roster is. Before the season, a lot of assumptions were made that we were going to win the state championship, but us players all know it takes tons of hard work to get to that point.” Lewis discussed how the team deals with this pressure by saying, “we all just try to play our game and, if we do that, we know success will follow.” Aside from the applied pressure from having eight college commits, Lewis claims that it also “makes us more of a team, because most players do not have to worry about stats because they are already committed. We don’t really have any ball hogs.”

The team is currently 8-1. In their second game on March 15, the team played against a well-known opponent: St. Paul VI’s Panthers (PVI), last year’s state champion. The game did not turn out as the Cougars wanted, however, resulting in a final score of 5-14. Lewis described this game as a “wake-up call to our team,” explaining that “this game uncovered some things that we needed to work on for our coming games.” The team has not lost a game since then. 

Photo credit: Maggie Bowman via Instagram @maggeb_photography.

One of the attributes Lewis used to describe the team is their “competitiveness.” In the game on Tuesday, March 26, against the Seahorses of Christchurch School, the team won 13-12 and was led by midfielder Ben Heidt (‘25), who had 6 goals and 2 assists. Three seconds before the final whistle, tensions flared due to a miscommunication from the referee, which led to both team’s benches clearing and a meeting of both teams at the center of the field. No true fight broke out; rather just some competitive spirits were on display. When asked about this, Lewis responded, “At the end of the day we are a brotherhood. We respect every team we play, whether or not they respect us, but we will always have our teammates’ backs. It doesn’t matter if you are the all-star player or the manager, you are one of us.”

After that win and seven others since, the team’s confidence is high. They beat Trinity Episcopal School, 14-3, on March 28 and St. Stephens and St. Agnes School, 12-6, on April 2. The team hopes to keep their winning streak going in the weeks ahead after their decisive 16-7 victory over Norfolk Academy on April 12. 

Featured image credit: Syd Britt.