Sophomore Carly Kurt picks the ball up with her stick and runs down the field, beating all of the defenders in her path. She throws her stick at the goalie and scores. This specific goal was one of the 32 that Kurt scored this season. 

Kurt was named a KCMGLA All-Metro player this Spring, an impressive accomplishment for Kurt since she had only picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time in March of 2022. 

This is the first year that Miege has had a girls lacrosse team and, according to head Coach Ross Dessert, he was a little unsure at the beginning on how the season was going to go.

“I really had no expectations,” Desert said. “The only expectation or goal was to get a decent number of people and then get some momentum with those numbers.” 

The majority of this new team had never played before, including Kurt. Kurt joined the season late since she was competing in the state tournament for basketball.

“I just thought it would be really fun to learn a new sport,” Kurt said. “Since I am so competitive, I thought I would like it and I have had a lot of fun so far.”

As Desert was hoping, the girls used the excitement of being on the first ever Miege lacrosse team to strive for a successful season. The Stags went into their fifth game of the season against Saint Michael with the mentality to win. 

“That was a game I knew we could win, and I think it was just a matter of convincing the players that they could win,” Desert said.

The Stags successfully accomplished their goal and beat the Defenders 12-10 on April 9. This win improved the team’s mentality and impacted the rest of their season, according to Desert. 

Senior captain Grayson Ihnat said she couldn’t believe that they beat the Defenders.

“They are a fifth-year team and we’re a first year team and we beat them,” Ihnat said. “It was just crazy and a lot to process in the moment.”

This win was not easily accomplished. Desert said that the key component in being successful in lacrosse is focusing on stick skills. Stick skills are ball handling and moving the ball up and down the field. The team spent 95% of practice time working on these stick skills, according to Dessert. 

“There’s this little push that Coach Desert always gives us,” Kurt said. 

This little push that Coach Desert gave the team excites Kurt for next season. She said she hopes to win more games next season and make it into the final tournament. Above all of these, Kurt is excited to build more relationships with the girls on the team. 

“I love the environment with the girls,” Kurt said. “We have a lot of fun while playing a sport we all love.”