Cape Tech Makes History With First Girls Lacrosse Varsity Season

April 02, 2025

by Brad Joyal

HARWICH – Cape Cod Tech girls lacrosse has reached the big time.

After competing as a 7-on-7 program in recent years due to limited numbers, the school began its first official varsity girls lacrosse season on Monday in Harwich.

Although Cape Tech suffered an 11-3 loss to Mayflower League foe Tri-County, spirits remained high after the program’s varsity debut.

“The girls did great. I’m proud of them,” said Cape Tech coach Darin Jacks. “We’re a very young team. We have no seniors, five juniors, and the rest are sophomores and freshmen. Half the team has never played, so they need more experience.”

The Crusaders displayed early-season jitters throughout the program’s inaugural varsity contest, but there were also bright spots the team can build upon before it travels to Osterville to take on Cape Cod Academy at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

Alice Rodrigues, Madison Baran and Mackenzie Fontes tallied a goal each while junior Aria O’Neil led the goaltending efforts.

Despite the loss, Jacks and the players were thrilled to be playing 12-on-12 after experiencing the hardships of 7-on-7 with limited substitutes during past seasons.

“We can breathe a lot better because last year we were nonstop running with no subs,” said Baran, a junior from Osterville. “This year is a lot better.”

After experiencing success in last year’s 7-on-7 competitions, Jacks recognizes this year’s team will experience some growing pains due to the bulk of the team’s inexperience and unfamiliarity with the sport.

“We’ve got to get back to the basics,” Jacks said. “We couldn’t get a full team together last year, so we had to kind of beg, borrow and steal to get the sevens going. We had 10 games and won eight — we lost two games by two goals.”

On Monday, the Crusaders displayed “nerves and jitters” that caused dropped balls and left some girls out of position, according to Jacks.

“We’ll work on that,” he said. “You can’t pick up the game in one day — a lot of these girls have only been playing for two weeks.”

Regardless of Monday’s result, the future is bright for the program. With no seniors on this year’s roster, Jacks is hopeful the Crusaders will establish a foundation that will help them compete for a league title next spring.

“Right now, we’re building,” Jacks said. “Our focus is on next year. This year is about gaining experience, next year we’re planning on winning the Mayflower."