The Lambert lacrosse program has a long history of success and accolades including six state championship titles. After winning back-to-back state championships in 2021 and 2022, the program fell short against West Forsyth in the final game in 2023. Despite this loss, the team is prepared to reach the state championship once again and come out on top for the seventh time in program history.
Lambert’s lacrosse team had a 259-31 all-time record going into the 2024 spring season and is currently 2-1 at the beginning of this season. Senior defensive captain Lukas Dopfer is looking forward to proving that the Longhorns will be back to who they are: champions.
“I’m excited to have one last go at winning the state championship,” Dopfer said. “My favorite thing about playing lacrosse at Lambert is that we’re always competing to win it all.”
Despite the team’s stellar performance up until the championship, Dopfer does not think that they have reached their full potential.
“Our biggest challenge this year is building team chemistry that wasn’t really there last year and coming together as a team,” Dopfer explained. “Based on the first game of this season, I didn’t do my job well enough as a defensive leader, so we have to focus on what our role is as a defense and come together as a whole.”
Dopfer has committed to play NCAA Division I Lacrosse at Long Island University next year and is planning to take a lot of things that he has learned from the Lambert lacrosse program to the collegiate level.
“I’m really inspired by Coach [Rick] Lewis because he doesn’t waver from his opinion,” Dopfer said. “And honestly, I don’t think a practice can be harder than some of ours.”
Dopfer’s passion for reaching another state championship is also shared by senior defensive player Aidan Fenton.
“I want to get another state championship at the end of the season,” Fenton said. “I’m going to help the team in any way I can to accomplish our goal.”
Fenton is taking his job as an upperclassman seriously by supporting the upcoming lacrosse players who will be taking the reins of the program after this season.
“My biggest responsibility is keeping the underclassmen in line and being a leader on the team,” Fenton explained. “I’m excited to see all of the freshmen develop because they are the future of our program.”
After taking a loss in the first game of the season, Fenton emphasized the importance of improvement from last year’s missteps.
“We have to beat the teams we lost to last year like Blessed Trinity,” Fenton said. “We’re going to watch our film and improve off of all the mistakes that we see.”
The Lambert Longhorns take on the Blessed Trinity Titans on February 23 at 7:45 p.m. at the Horn.
