By Jeffery Laux
The girls are ready to shock the city with their revamped defensive unit of strong and quick moving playmakers and young dynamic players on the offensive side of the ball. I had the chance to speak with Head Coach John Ault about this upcoming 2018 season, and his passion for this game is undeniably strong. Coach Ault is looking forward to the 2018 season as this is his second year of coaching varsity girls’ lacrosse. He has brought life to this school’s team. The year before he came, in 2016, the team went 0-14 under former coach Kim Perrine. He had served as an assistant coach for the team back in 06’ all the way up to ’11. He then became a head coach for the Apopka Lacrosse Club in Apopka, which has many premier players that are willing to put the time in to take their game to the next level. He articulated the quote “trust the process,” and he drills this into many of the players’ heads to mentally prepare the girls for what he expects each and every practice and game. “Getting out what you put in” is how to simply state it, as plenty of summer training camps, fall practices, and drills will offer many players the opportunity to show their true potential.
For Coach Ault, he believes this game is truly a test of “IQ” for the players instead of physical dominance. Girls that play as cohesive and highly efficient players while putting 100% into anything and everything they do is the type of player that belongs on varsity in his eyes. His vision for this team is to change the perception of girls’ lacrosse at Apopka, as their reputation was tarnished 2 years ago when they were winless in their 2016-2017 campaign. Improving his team’s record each and every year will finally create the persona of a ruthless team of competitors that will fight for the top spot in this stout district of teams.
The regular season opener is against the Oak Ridge Pioneers, who have just created their first varsity lacrosse girls’ team. This match will help answer two questions: What’s Apopka’s identity moving forward and which players will take this team to the top? Ault prepared his team for tough matchups as he scheduled tough district opponents, including West Orange, Lake Minneola, and Dr. Phillips.
This year’s captains are Jessica Spiegel and Grace Garza, who are widely looked up to by all of the young players on this team. “From a leadership standpoint, they lead the pre-game warmups and uplift the team’s charisma and spirit,” Ault explained. Jessica’s motto is to fight hard until the whistle blows, and she prides herself on the state of improvement among all of her fellow teammates after these past couples of seasons. “Each and every day these girls come out to practice looking to get better and better.”
Another player many others are excited to see take action again is All-Metro player Savanna DeClue, who is an outstanding goalie that has received many collegiate offers to come play as shut-down goalie. The goalie is the sole leader of this girl’s lacrosse team as Savannah controls both the tempo and the attitude of her team. Over time these girls have built a stronger relationship with one another. From here they can only go up and keep striving to better themselves each and every day.
As of 2/16/18, the Lady Blue Darters traveled to Celebration (FL) to play in a pre-season tournament against some quality teams. They played their first match against The First Academy Royals and won in a defense-heavy game that ended in the score 5-2. Shaelyn Rowan scored a dinger on the Royals tough defense and helped the Darters capture their first win. The Darters played one more game which was against the Freedom Patriots. A spark ignited the team to put seven points on the board while also holding Freedom to 0 points. Coach Ault is excited to see where this win takes his team’s confidence and level of playing for the beginning of the season when they take on Oak Ridge.