The Sandpoint Club Lacrosse team, the Cutthroats, is now in competition season as of March. A group of students play for this team each spring, even though lacrosse itself is not a Sandpoint High School-affiliated sport.

Anthony Walker is a senior who is currently in his sixth season of playing lacrosse. He said of this year’s team, “we have won both our Montana League games, but we still have lots of work to do. We lost against Lake City and Gonzaga Prep.”

The Cutthroat Lacrosse teams extend to the middle school and elementary school levels, which provides students with the opportunity to play and learn the game before they enter high school. Many of the key players on the high school team graduated last year, but the new players and freshmen are promising, according to junior and seven-season player Troy Nutt.

“We are [now] short on upperclassmen and numbers. I am really proud of our new players and freshmen because they have really stepped up and proven themselves,” Nutt said.

One of the freshmen, second-season player Joseph Schauwecker said, “this is my second season of lacrosse […] I love the overall intensity of the sport. It gives you a rush through the whole game.”

This year, the high school teams also have a new head coach who moved up from assistant coach last year.

“He is familiar with our game style and plays […] he is a great coach,” Nutt said.

The temperate weather this spring has also proven helpful for lacrosse, as several of the practices last year were on pavement due to the condition of the fields. Practicing on pavement is both damaging to the sticks when scooping the ball and presents a different playing surface than an actual game, so having access to fields earlier has been welcomed by team members.

“We only had two practices on pavement. The rest have been on grass,” Walker said.