High Hopes for Irish Lacrosse After a Strong Start; By Zane Hitch

SEATTLE - After winning back-to-back state championships, followed by an unofficial covid state championship, how will the Irish add to their legacy? The answer is battling through a season of adversity and change and adding another state championship to their resume.

The Irish have to adjust to the loss of long time defensive coordinator Eli Gobrecht. In addition to this major loss, they will also go without head coach Drew Snider for the first time. With the departure of both Gobrecht and Snider, the Irish will turn to younger brother of Drew, Will Snider to take the reigns as head coach.

“We will have to wait to see how it affects the game. Will and Drew have similar but different coaching styles. Practices have been good, but we will have to see how Will's coaching style works on gamedays," senior attackman Keaton James said, “it helps that so many guys on the team have been coached by Will at some point, it makes the transition a lot easier.”

Coach Will Snider has coached many players on the O’Dea team through Cityside, a local club program in Seattle. He also coached the Junior Varsity team in the 2020 and 2021 season and has built strong connections with and helped develop many of the younger players. This will be key for the season as there are many underclassmen playing key roles for the team, including 4 sophomores and a freshman starting.

"The biggest challenges we will face this year are having so many underclassman starting and playing key roles, along with new coaching and the adjustments that will be made on offense and defense," James added.

And, after two games the success of the underclassman can be seen. Starting freshman defender Finn Evans picked up 6 ground balls in his first high school game and was a key contributor in the Irish’s 9-8 overtime win over Eastlake. Evans added 7 more ground balls and an assist to his stats just two days later when the Irish won 10-7 against Curtis.

Another underclassman that is playing a large role for the Irish is Christian Winn, Winn had key 3 goals against Eastlake that helped the Irish to their win.

The win over Eastlake was the first win against the Wolves in program history, and the Irish handed the two-time defending state champions their first loss since 2019.

Will Snider is starting his coaching career off in strong fashion with the win over Eastlake, but he and the Irish will not be able to let their foot off the gas. The Irish have a loaded schedule including games against some of the best 3A teams in Bellevue, Mercer Island, and Seattle prep (twice), as well as out of state teams La Costa Canyon (CA), Sierra Canyon (CA), and Bishop Gorman (CO).

In the 2021 season Will Snider became the interim head coach for the final 3 games of the season. He led the team to victories against Mercer Island and a come from behind victory against Seattle Prep, where the Irish came back from trailing 9-3 to win in double overtime. If Snider can lead the team with the same success they have had this far, then the Irish are on track for another historical season.