Brendan Pursel is no stranger to Monomoy lacrosse. Since 2018, he’s helped lead the Sharks’ boys program as an assistant in addition to leading the boys junior varsity program the past couple seasons.

Now Pursel is gearing up for a new challenge: taking over the girls program as its varsity head coach.

“This is my first time coaching girls and being a head coach,” said Pursel, an East Greenbush, N.Y. native who teaches elementary school in Wellfleet. “When I came to Cape Cod, the opportunity to be an assistant coach for the Monomoy boys team presented itself and I jumped at it because I love the game.

“I’ve learned a lot about coaching and have continued to fall in love with it, so when the head coach job opened for the girls team, I jumped at that as well.”

Pursel replaces Jennifer Stevens, who led the team to the Division 4 state tournament and a 13-6 record last spring. The rookie coach said he’ll rely on the team’s three captains — junior Karah Deveau and seniors Lucy Mawn and Angelina Beasley — to help ease his transition this season.

“I’m grateful for my captains,” said Pursel, who played a couple years of collegiate lacrosse at Springfield College. “I’m just really lucky that I’m coming into a program with strong leaders who can help out the younger kids, and even help me out if I become uncertain about something.”

The leadership was on display Monday afternoon, when the team met for its first tryout session. Pursel noted that his first reaction to the group was that there is plenty of talent and great leadership. He was especially thrilled to see how positive the girls were.

“I love seeing how they interact positively with each other,” he said. “They’re always keeping each other up and are complimenting each other. Even at one point at practice today, a couple people started to get a little negative, and the captains were right there to remind them, ‘Hey, we’re not yelling at each other. We’re always being positive and encouraging each other.’

“That was great to see.”

Pursel added that it helps that he’s familiar with Monomoy. Although this spring marks his first season with the girls program, he views the relationships he’s made while coaching the boys as a conduit that will help him throughout the transition.

He credited athletic director Karen Guillemette and athletic trainer Taylor Murray for being supportive throughout the process.

“It’s really helpful having people that I already know support me,” Pursel said. “The A.D. and athletic trainer have been very supportive, and then having the boys coaching staff come on the field right afterwards, they are more than willing to help me out if I ever need anything.”

Pursel is hopeful that his first season will pick up where Stevens and the Sharks left off last spring.

“We’re just trying to build on the success the program has had and continuing to meet our old goals and set new ones,” he said. “I think that we have a great, dedicated group that’s going to accomplish some good stuff this year.”

Monomoy is scheduled to host Dennis-Yarmouth in its season opener at 4 p.m. April 4.

Email Brad Joyal at brad@capecodchronicle.com.

Twitter: @BradJoyal