JV lacrosse shatters 7-year loss streak

The Royals junior varsity lacrosse team has struggled in the past years, but this past Saturday, they won their first game in seven years.

Xavier Zaccagnini, sophomore, was a huge contributor to the win against St. Louis Park. Zaccagnini had a career high with three goals in the game.

“The team really started to get going. It feels like we’re improving a lot every game,” Zaccagnini said. “I was feeling confident in my shot and was able to slip a couple by the goalie. The lower right side was open a lot of the time.

There was a new face in net for the game. Sam Patel, sophomore, was the goalie for the game due to the absence of Hugh Day, freshman. Patel was impressive in his start, saving eight of ten shots on the day.

“It was unusual but fun playing goalie, but I thought I did ok. The defense helped me a lot,” Patel said. “It was great being apart of the team that had the win of the decade. We’re also just getting started.”

The team was one cohesive unit in the game against SLP. Cole Kristal, sophomore swing player, contributed four assists to the royal’s goal total of seven.

“One thing that stood out on offense for us was how well we communicated. We we’re also a lot more patient then we have been all season in the offensive zone,” Kristal said. “I saw a lot of holes in their defense and I was able to set up the guys quite a bit.”

The Royals got a break from the Lake Conference. The tough competition they’ve been facing helped them beat rivaling teams like the Orioles.
“When we play teams like Edina, we have to play at our top level. With that same effort against SLP, we were able to dominate them,” Kristal said. “We just have to keep getting better and we’ll pull out some more dubs.”