//PICTURED ABOVE: Posing behind their State and SPC trophies, the Hockaday Varsity Lacrosse team shows off their lustrous new rings. Though the team won both championships in May, they received their rings on Nov. 14 during their lunch period in Biggs Dining Hall.

The Hockaday Varsity Lacrosse team made a legendary comeback in the Southwest Preparatory Championship of May 2018. Defeating the Episcopal School of Dallas and winning the championship, the lacrosse team was rewarded with a state ring that symbolizes not only their tremendous efforts but also their outstanding teamwork which allowed them to excel.?Starting the season with lots of motivation, the team carried not only ambitions to win but also the determination to seek a vendetta. Because they had previously lost to ESD, the Hockaday athletes aspired to reclaim the throne of the championship.

Having watched the Hockadaisies go up against ESD many times, current Varsity Lacrosse coach Molly Ford understands the magnitude of the win.

“[The Episcopal School of Dallas] had beaten us three times last year,” Ford said, “It’s always a tough competition.”

Stepping into the fields of ESD, the team set off on their journey. With the air already infused with the long-term tension between the two rival schools, the Hockaday girls soon found that the path to the championship was filled with many bumps along the way.

“The rivalry is so huge that we tried to not think about the fact that we were playing against ESD,” current lacrosse player senior Reid Cohen said. “It was difficult because a lot of us play at clubs together and are friends.

Facing the dilemma between friendship and championship, the team members then adopted a method to overcome this obstacle.

“We played with the mindset that we’re not playing against [ESD],” Cohen said. “It turn[ed] out that we did much better without thinking about it.”

However, the path to the championship did not pose only a singular challenge to the Hockaday girls–it had others. Since lacrosse has always been a highly-competitive team sport that requires a tremendous amount of precise collaboration between teammates, when senior team members from the previous year graduated and left, another large barrier was placed on the road to success.

“We had lost a bunch of really impactful seniors, so we needed our four new seniors to step up,” Ford said. “They definitely did, as well as some of our underclassmen.”

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, the lacrosse team faced the challenge together and was eventually able to conquer it through an impressive amount of cooperation and trust.

“Whatever one person on our team is down or out, other players take up their lead,” lacrosse player senior Jojo Gum said, “That turned out to be really important for our win.”

Able to eventually overcome these obstacles, the Hockaday Varsity Lacrosse team eventually welcomed their moment of glory.

“It was towards the end of the game and [ESD] started to switch out people in the draw circle,” Gum said. “I looked up at the clock and realized just how little time [the match] had left and how close we were to winning it. Disbelief washed over me.”

Because they won this game, the lacrosse team was declared state champions and received accompanying state rings. The receiving of the ring is the symbol that commends the success of the team. With the rings of victory shining on their hands, the Hockaday Varsity Lacrosse team experienced more than just the glory.

“We call our rings ‘season rings,’ because it shows our whole season contributed to [the win],” Gum said. “I also think it symbolizes how we really played as a team last season.”

Not only does the victory symbolize the fruit of the team’s diligence, but it also rep- resents a remarkable stroke on the history of the Hockaday athletic competitions.

“[The ring] symbolizes all the hard work that the girls did the last season, and I think that it represents the accomplishment and that gives me a little bit more motivation to get another one next year,” Ford said. “With new leadership stepping up and focusing on accomplishing this goal again, we really need to start a streak right now.”

Energized and ambitious, the lacrosse team members will wear their state rings as emblems to encourage them in their up- coming spring season.

“Our biggest goal is to make it to the championship,” Ford said. “One step at a time.”

Story by Emily Wu, Views Editor

Photo by Anne Rubi