As the weather warms up and the school year enters its final stretch, spring sports are in full swing! Every team is working at peak performance and looking forward to making history this season, and the odds are looking up for Sonoma Academy to pick up a few titles in the spring.
This year, our Varsity Boys Lacrosse team (3-0) is looking to build on last season’s success, led by many standout upperclassmen and some new underclassmen as well. Their next game is scheduled for March 13th against Windsor, and they’re eager to start the season strong. We were able to interview junior Lange Look and senior George Hehman about their thoughts on the Lacrosse team. George is “excited to get some goals,” and Lange thinks that this year, “we’re really good at rotating on offense and our defense is clamps,” so we definitely have reason to look forward to success this season. The boys lacrosse team is coming off of a hard-fought victory against a highly ranked Petaluma team from last night but we may see a great season and another piece of silverware from our Coyotes.
Meanwhile, our Varsity Tennis team is preparing for a competitive season as well. After winning the CMC league title, last year’s squad had a hard loss in the first round of the NCS championships last year as they fell to Acalanes in a 7-0 loss. This year, they are setting their sights on making a deep run in the playoffs to avenge their hardship. Freshman talent James Dibartolo said “I think we’re going to do great. I think we’re going to win the entire [NCS] championship.” Juniors Alexander Sae and Lynna Xu, ranked #1 and #2 on the team, agreed with these hopes for the oncoming season, with Lynna saying “there’s a lot of new faces…so I think it’ll be a good season”. The team has had a decent start to the season, winning 4-2 at Analy but drawing 3-3 with an extremely strong Cardinal Newman outfit. Junior Sijie Zeng also believes that we can bounce back from this start and become a commanding group for the rest of our season, saying that “we haven’t had a super hot start to the season, from here on out it’ll be going up.”
Our track team, led by new coach Chris Puppione (who formerly worked as the UC Davis cross-country head coach and distance coach for track and field), may have the most exciting spring of all. His outlook and the work ethic which he is instilling in our track athletes has been commended by various members of the team. Junior Nicholas Lucchesi, who competes in the 100m, 200m, relay, and various throwing events, says “we’re definitely going to do pretty good. Our coach is dedicated and he’s coached successful athletes in the past so he has a lot of experience. We have multiple members who are new to the system but making the team culture the best it can be. [We’re] definitely breaking school records this year.” Junior Aidan Crockett agreed, saying “I want to be able to see my achievements on the wall this year.”
Other spring sports teams, including our Varsity Girls Lacrosse and Varsity Baseball teams, are also gearing up for action. With a mix of returning players and promising newcomers, these teams are looking to make a name for themselves in the North Coast Section. The Paw Print couldn’t get an interview with members of these teams, but rest assured, we’ll have exclusive coverage of their seasons in the next sports update!
Be sure to come out and support our athletes as they compete throughout the season! Stay tuned for updates, game highlights, and athlete spotlights in the coming weeks.