Captain Jack Bitman ’24 cradles the ball upfield. Photo by Dinah Megibow-Taylor ’24.
The Moorestown Friends School Boys’ Lacrosse team is officially on a season-long Friends League hiatus. The team has games scheduled against NJ public schools, such as Sterling and Cinnaminson, in absence of their normal Friends League matchups.
Amir Mashaqi ’23 said the schedule change is “a good thing because [they] don’t have the depth or the experience to play multiple top 10 teams within Pennsylvania.” He believes that “by next year, [the team] should be able to compete with stronger and larger teams.”
Mashaqi said, “with four new state games on the schedule, it gives [the team] the opportunity to prepare and excel in state playoffs.”
Captain Malik Mustafa ’24 reflected on how the change in schedule will affect leadership in practice, saying that he doesn’t “think it affects it much because we still have challenging games in our schedule but we will come together as a team and take on these challenging games.”
Defensive player TJ Mason ’23 said, “it’s a good thing because it gives us a chance to get used to the roster that we have.” He added that “since the team is mostly younger, the players will have more time to build chemistry and be ready for next season.”
Head Coach Greg Yingling said the team is “very young, inexperienced, and most importantly short on numbers.” He continued by saying they “wanted to take this year and play local teams in a similar situation” in order to “learn the game in a safe way.”
Yingling said the team is “committed to [their] plan this year.” He explained that when “teams are separated by so much experience and subsequently, skill, neither team gets much out of the game.”
As for the team’s future in the Friends League, Yingling commented that “when we have enough players with enough experience to compete in a safe and productive game, we will be ready to play back in the Friends League.”
After the schedule change, the team currently holds a 1-4 record. With ten games remaining, including a rematch against Nottingham, there is still time for boys lacrosse to turn their season around.
