Catawba Ridge girls’ lacrosse’s primary goal in first year? Fall in love with the sport

Catawba Ridge girls’ lacrosse head coach Julie Weiss calls the first year of her program a work in progress.

The Copperheads are young to say the least, with only eight girls between the JV and varsity squads with any experience in the sport. The team lost its first-ever game to Sun Valley, 18-4, and then had its second game of the season canceled due to poor field conditions at South Meck.

Weiss said despite the early-season issues with weather and struggles in the first game, she knows her team’s inaugural year is about growing the sport in the eyes of her players.

“It is teaching everybody from the ground-up,” she said. “We are using this first year as a learning experience. This is the only year I have coached where I have had this many beginners.”

Weiss said she has seen growth in her team early on and can tell that every time they step on the field, they are getting better.

“They have been doing a great job,” she said. “You can see they are improving each time they are taking the field.”

The first five games for Catawba Ridge are all road games for the Copperheads. The first three are against schools based in North Carolina, with game four against Clover. They then travel to Fort Mill to play the Jackets on March 16.

Catawba Ridge’s first home game is scheduled for March 18 against South Lake Christian. After that, they only have four more home games the rest of the season.

Weiss said the goal of the first year is a simple one: Help the girls fall in love with the sport.

“Our goal is to just keep the girls interested and wanting to come back for more,” she said. “You don’t want to scare anyone off at this point.”

A loftier goal would be getting a playoff berth.

“Making the playoffs would be icing on the cake for any starting program,” Weiss said.

The inaugural team for Catawba Ridge is incredibly young, with only four juniors on the team to go with nine sophomores and six freshmen.

“In the next three or four years,” Weiss said, “we are going to have a real solid program.”

Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM