After the Covid-19 2020 season that wasn’t, the Big Lake High School boys lacrosse team is in rebuild mode, returning two seniors and three juniors. That means a bulk of the burden will fall to the younger players on this year’s squad.

“Being this young will be a disadvantage for us this year, no doubt,” said Head Coach Brad Weber, who is in his fourth season leading the program. “Coach Snoddy and I are looking at this as an opportunity to build a good foundation for the younger players, and use the next 2-3 years to get this young core of players ready to challenge the other teams in our conference.”

Jason Snoddy is in his first year as an Assistant Coach with BLHS, after assisting in the Centennial boys high school program through 2019. On the field, the Hornets will be led by senior captain Nick Merten, and junior captains Jacob Polacec and Jack Beckstrom. The team managers are Maddie Svien and Allie Thompson.

Merten returns as the top scorer from the 2019 team. He plays midfield and face off specialist, and is currently committed to playing college lacrosse for Lewis University in Illinois. Beckstrom joins Merten in the midfield group, and has good speed and hands. He is looking for a bounce-back year after being sidelined early in the 2019 season with an injury. Freshmen Cade Fagen, Jack Christensen, and Declan Weber will all see considerable playing time in the midfield group this year as well. At the attack positions, Tyler Heyen (Jr), Cash McCrone (Fr), and Mason Krebs (Fr) will look for ways to help the Hornets get on the board.

Polacec leads the defensive group as a Long Stick Middie (LSM), and he is joined on the defensive end by senior Jordan Bagne and freshmen Domenick Schuck-Hoeg and Tyler Olson. The Hornets return freshman Trajan Mussehl to the cage for goaltending duties. Mussehl saw quite a bit of varsity time as a 7th grader in 2019 and will look to build on that this season.

One of the biggest challenges for a young team is getting the practice and game repetitions to be ready for the next game, and taking all of 2020 off did not do this team any favors. 

“The nice thing about lacrosse is that a lot of it is instinctual,” said Coach Weber. “There is a ball that needs to be put into the net, we need to defend their players when they have the ball, and we need to run faster than them.” 

“The tough thing about this game is getting everyone to buy into the team concept, and their role in that concept, and getting them to believe that sometimes the easiest way to score is to give the ball to someone else.”  

“I remain hopeful that 2020 was just a blip, and that our program, and lacrosse in this area of the state, will continue to grow and add more teams over the next few seasons. I know as a young team, we’re going to learn a few lessons over the next few years. My hope is that this group sticks together, grows from it, and gets a chance to return the favor down the road.”