This year’s girls lacrosse team is making history: defeating rival schools, reclaiming the Kanan Cup and having an ongoing winning streak.

The team has been hard at work training for months, yet they only started competing relatively recently with their first game at the end of February. Varsity coach Ross Tabor is pleased with the fruits of their labor.

“It’s been a really fun season. Starting with game three of the season, Newbury Park was our long-time neighborhood bully,” Coach Tabor said. “They’ve beat up all the local teams for a long time. Our senior group, a lot of them, have been playing them since fourth grade and they’ve never been within ten goals. So when we won that game I thought ‘OK we’re onto something here.’”

In addition to beating Newbury Park, the team has also defeated Agoura during the Kanan Cup reclaiming a trophy Oak Park High School hasn’t seen in three years.

“It’s like a little crown in our team case and it’s a great win for the team,” senior varsity co-captain Rylie Hartmire said.

The impact of the team’s natural chemistry and dynamic is something agreed on by both Tabor and the team captains; they deemed it a contributing factor to the team’s success. 

“We’ve all been playing together a really long time so I definitely think that helps,” senior varsity co-captain Emma Tabor said.

The team has been playing together for quite some time with Coach Tabor as the architect of the program, his sixth year doing so.

“Coach Tabor is great, he really supports the team,” said Hartmire. “He’s built this program up a lot and he’s put a lot of effort into girls’ lacrosse. Which sadly has a lot of teams dwindling.”

The team’s most recent victory was against Notre Dame and was also a mental health awareness game dedicated to the Shulze family

“The Shulze family in conjunction with the Sarah Shulze Foundation is doing a lot of work to raise mental health awareness, obviously a huge issue,” Coach Tabor said. “So we are wearing green arm tattoos and green ribbons to promote awareness for the importance of mental health.”

While the game has already taken place the Sarah Shulze Foundation is still looking to achieve that goal and seek any help possible whether through donations or volunteers.

Come support the girls lacrosse team at their next game the evening of May 3 at Dos Pueblos.