The Becker Bulldog girls lacrosse team are hoping the fresh, new 2017 will erase all the harsh memories of last June’s final game in the Section 8 playoffs.
Becker was seeded #9 and they played #8-seeded St. Cloud. The Bulldogs held a two-goal lead at 8-6 with two-and-one-half minutes left...and lost the match.
Becker Head Coach Hugh Hovde is entering his fifth year coaching the girls lacrosse team. two coaches from last year, Jon Lang and Kelsi Bursch, will not be returning to the team, so Hovde recruited a couple founding players to fill their spots.
Mandy Nelson is being called upon to help coach the JV squad and the goalies and Becca Stolarczyk (Hugh’s daughter now married) will also be in charge of the JV team. Hovde will be getting help from Bill Roland, who has been “an excellent coach at the youth level and I'm glad to have his help this year.”
Team captains for Hovde’s team come by way of a team vote.
“This year we have four seniors and the team selected all of them to be captains,” said Hovde.
They are Sarah Garding, Daisy Kent, Kelsi Halvorson and Brookelynn Beutz.
Hovde has 37 girls vying for spots on the varsity and JV squads and he plans to make decisions on who plays where by early next week.
The Bulldogs ended their regular season 4-10 and Hovde and his athletes are determined to make significant improvements in how they play and how the scoreboard looks at the end of each match.
“We want to improve on that record this year,” he said. “We lost that heart-breaker to Tech and that is one team I'm looking forward to playing this year.”
“I got a core group of girls who have worked hard during the off season,” he said. “If we gel as a team, I think we will surprise some of our opponents.”
Hovde expects to get good scoring from Beutz, Kent and others and expects Halvorson to improve in the nets. On defense, Jamie Ulsby and Abby Becker expect to put up a nice wall for Halvorson and back-up goalie Sami Stellmach.
Hovde took a couple years off from coaching a few years back, but he’s glad he returned to a place he finds comfort.
“I still do enjoy coaching,” he said. “I enjoy working with the students. I'll miss not having Jon Lang on the field though.”
Hovde said he and Lang have coached their own daughters’ basketball and lacrosse teams for about 15 years.
“He's an excellent coach,” Hovde said of Lang. “But I also am excited about this year. Coaching with my daughter will be fun.”
Hovde says he’s looking forward to seeing how Mandy and Bill fit into the mix.
“This group of student athletes we have this year are hard working, coachable, and are willing to go the extra mile to improve,” said Hovde. “For example, they organized their own morning conditioning practices so we can focus more on skills during the afternoon practices.”
The girls kick off their regular season April 18 at home against Rocori. Game time is 5 p.m.
