The Vashon Island High School’s Girls’ Lacrosse team was met with devastating news this season—their team would not be playing. This is an unfortunate turn of events for the seniors on the team. Despite strong interest from the girls, the season was canceled due to a combination of recruitment struggles, lack of administrative support, and a short registration window. The players were disappointed to say the least, especially the seniors, as their efforts to keep the team together failed. Mylie Limont, a senior on the team, expressed her frustration with the club due to their lack of effort.
“It wasn't a shock that lacrosse was canceled,” Limont said, “but it was a shock that the club didn't try harder for there to be a girls; team,” she continued.
Similarly, Sloane Overdorf, who has been playing lacrosse since third grade, shared this frustration.
“I was really looking forward to my last year to finally show how far I've come,” Overdorf said.“It absolutely came as a shock that it was canceled, especially since we knew we had enough players,”.
Overdorf revealed that despite the number of players being sufficient, the club still canceled their season.
Jane Howsmon, a senior, who had been playing lacrosse for four years, concurred with Overdorf’s statement.
“I'm devastated. I'm still really sad and frustrated that it didn't work out despite how much work a lot of our players put in to try to make this happen,” Howsmon shared.
Kyla Scheff, who has been playing lacrosse since seventh grade, expresses her sadness over losing both the team bonding experience and the sport she loves.
“We all don't have a spring sport to play. So everyone is kind of splitting up, which is really sad. We are all doing different sports or no sports. I'm not doing a sport,” Scheff stated.
The players brought up a major issue revolving around the lack of support from the lacrosse club. Although the team had around fourteen committed players, enough for a full field, the club decided to cut the girls' seasons despite an already short registration window that lasted for only a week.
“I think it's a bit rooted in sexism,” Limount noted. “They've never really put any effort into the girl’s team, and that really led to its fall this year,” she continued.
Limont points out that historically, the girls’ lacrosse team has never received much attention from the club, as the boys program takes the focus. Overdorf also brought up how the lack of adult support was a major part of the cancellation.
“[There’s] not enough support from the adults who are running the program this year,” she said. “We had at least 14 players registered, and more were going to sign up, but they just decided to cut it,” Overdorf stated.
The future of Vashon's girls’ lacrosse team is uncertain as six seniors are graduating this year, and with no middle school team to feed into the high school program, they are in a difficult position. Many fear that this could represent an end to the girl’s team altogether with the lack of recruitment for the younger players.
“I don't think there will be a team next year…I think this year was sort of the last chance,” Limont said.
Overdorf also shares this outlook as she believes the club just isn't as dedicated to the sport as the girls are.
“I think it's interesting that a lot of teams in our league are in the same position as us, but they're playing down to eight players instead of canceling,” Overdorf explains.
Despite their disappointment over the loss of a game they have dedicated years to, the players gave their all to make the season happen. However, without strong support from the club, the future of Vashon's girls' lacrosse team remains uncertain. For this year's seniors, the cancellation of their final season marks an unfortunate and preventable end to their high school lacrosse careers.
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