With about three weeks remaining until practice begins for the high-school spring season, the Washington-Liberty Generals have a dilemma. The girls varsity lacrosse team has no coaches.
In the last couple of weeks, previous W-L head coach Lauren Burke left to take the same job at Liberty District rival Langley High School. The entire W-L staff, including junior varsity coaches, departed as well.
The Generals’ regular season is scheduled to begin March 15 against West Springfield. The team has two scrimmages on March 8 and 11.
Washington-Liberty and Langley are scheduled to play April 19 at W-L.
Anyone interested in applying for the open coaching position should contact Washington-Liberty director of student activities Carol Callaway at carol.callaway@apsva.us.
The W-L senior players have been working with the athletic department to hold scheduled off-season practices and workouts and communicate with all current and prospective varsity and junior varsity players. Washington-Liberty head football coach Josh Shapiro has led a couple of those practices.
“These are great girls, and there sure is a lot of talent on this team,” Shapiro said. “It’s going to be a very good team.”
The senior players on the team, have been a part of the program since the eighth grade and many have played lacrosse together through youth and club leagues for more than 10 years.
In 2019, those players, then sophomores, helped lead the team to the region-tournament semifinals and finish with an 11-3 regular-season record, a single-season program best mark. The 2020 season was canceled because of COVID. Last spring, the Generals finished 8-1 in the regular season, then 1-1 in the region tourney.