By Ethan Volk

Learning that someone has cancer is devastating, especially when that someone is your coach. Unfortunately, the members of the girls’ varsity lacrosse team experienced this tragedy when they learned that their coach, Coach Jane Maher, had been diagnosed with cancer.
“When we heard that Coach Maher was diagnosed with cancer, we were all taken aback,” said junior Rachael Warner. “Many of us have played for Coach Maher and have a personal relationship with her and are deeply concerned for her health.”
Inspired by South’s girls’ soccer team, who held the event “Kicking Out Cancer,” in early October, the lacrosse team decided to create a new charity event, cleverly titled “LaCrosse Out Cancer.” “Our team was motivated to do something to help show our support for Coach Maher,” said Warner. “We eventually came up with this idea for the game to raise money and awareness for cancer.”
The  “LaCrosse Out Cancer” event occurred April 20 against North. Although the game was a huge success in creating fundraising and cancer awareness, the team unfortunately lost the game 18 to 14. “Even though we didn’t win, we were still happy that our game meant a lot to Coach Maher and the community,” said Warner.
“The purpose of the event was to raise money for the All American Cancer Society to find a cure,” said senior captain Samantha Rickey.
In addition to the game, the team also encouraged donations. Although everyone is eligible to donate, the majority of the donations came from the JV and varsity lacrosse teams. Each player was assigned to collect as many bids and donations as possible in order to raise money. Members of the team walked around school with donation sheets advertising the event. Each donation sheet included options of donating money based upon the girl’s performance in the charity game, such as the number of saves, goals, steals, face-off wins or ground balls they acquired. Flat donations were also accepted.
The event was very successful, raising over $5,700 towards cancer research. In response to the success of the event, members of the team hoped for a “pay it forward” effect. “We hope more teams have charity games to raise money for cancer as well as for other causes,” said Rickey. “This is the first year of the event, and hopefully there are many more events like this one to come,” she added.  One charity game and $5,700 later, the girls’ varsity lacrosse team is on its way to “LaCrossing Out Cancer.”