Feeling out of place in a new green and black uniform instead of her usual navy and silver, senior Cameron Coalter steps onto the lacrosse field as the newest goalie of the Viera High School girls varsity lacrosse team after years of playing for West Shore. Coalter was surprised to be chosen as captain despite this being her first year on a new team.

“I walk in, this is my first year playing for them, and I’m already taking this position,” Coalter said. “I know I shouldn’t feel bad, but I feel like I’m taking all these things away from these girls that have been playing there for so long.”

With girl’s lacrosse no longer being offered at West Shore this year, Coalter chose to look for opportunities to keep playing at other Brevard County high schools.

“I decided to go to Viera because they’re the best team in our county,” Coalter said. “It’s worth it to drive 30, 40 minutes every day just to play for the team that I know will advance to the finals of districts.”

While joining a new team means new opportunities for Coalter, being unable to play lacrosse at West Shore for her final year limits her connection to both the sport and school.

“It’s my senior year and I’ve been playing lacrosse at West Shore for five years,” Coalter said. “This would have been my sixth year. The fact that it’s my last year and I can’t play at my school and walk on senior night is sad.”

Coalter said the biggest challenge of joining a new team as captain has been the leadership aspect.

“It’s so weird being captain,” Coalter said. “I’ve never had this responsibility or role before, in almost anything. I know I’m supposed to be a leader, but it’s hard to be a leader when I’m not comfortable around everyone.”

Entering as a senior impacted Coalter’s efforts to connect with her teammates, making it harder to form friendships with the older players on the team.

“I was kinda off to the side a little bit—that’s also just how I am with meeting new people, I’m not putting myself out there,” Coalter said. “Over the past summer and fall seasons we’ve gotten a lot closer, but it can still be a little awkward here and there. Now that I have the basic gist of it and I’m friends with everyone on the team, I’m a lot more comfortable.”

Although forming relationships with her teammates has been difficult, Coalter said relationships are a crucial part of the sport, making or breaking a team’s performance.

“It’s a team sport. You have 11 girls on the field, plus a goalie,” Coalter said. “You have to have that trust to know that ‘okay, if I pass you this ball, you will get it and go.’ It’s all about trust and having a good relationship.”

At Viera, Coalter aims to connect with the younger members of the team and mentor them, inspired by her own memories of older teammates helping her.

“Having those seniors take you under their wing and help you was so important to me. It was the reason why I kept playing. I’m 100% trying to do that now,” Coalter said. “A lot of my friends are sophomores on the team who I have kind of taken under my wing. I believe in all of these underclassmen and JV girls. I know what they’re capable of, and if they just put their head down and work for it, it’s so possible.”

Coalter isn’t the only student adjusting to a new team this season. Junior Alexandra Buras joined the Melbourne High School girls varsity lacrosse team this year, and like Coalter, has been focused on making the most of it.

“I’ve been doing it for so long, I just want to keep doing it,” Buras said. “I’ve met so many people I wouldn’t normally be friends with outside of it. I think it’s a really good outlet to get out of my shell, meet new people, and try new things. It would have been nice to keep playing lacrosse at West Shore just because I’ve been doing it for so long—I joined in 7th grade. It’s unfortunate that I won’t be able to have a senior night at West Shore, but I’m just grateful that I can still play [lacrosse].”

Buras said the removal of the girls lacrosse program at West Shore was unsurprising, but nonetheless disappointing.

“I think it was inevitable,” Buras said. “Every year, we’ve had to scrap together a team— it’s mainly been seniors. After Kiera [Runske] left, I knew it was not going to happen. Not a lot of people are interested in it.”

Coalter agreed, adding that there may be more advantages to playing with Viera High School than downsides. The biggest improvement, to her, has been the quality of coaching.

“I appreciate everyone who has stepped up to coach girls lacrosse at West Shore, but none of them knew what they were doing,” Coalter said. “They put so much effort into learning the sport and are so passionate about it, which I’m so appreciative of, but our coach has played lacrosse for so long, she knows exactly what she’s doing.”

Both players said that they are excited about the possibilities of a challenging but rewarding season with the Viera girls lacrosse team.

“It’s going to be a completely different experience. Five of our away games we’re getting charter buses because they’re hours away,” Coalter said. “I’ve never done that before, we’ve only played teams in Brevard. I can’t even go in thinking, ‘Oh, we’re going to lose,’ because I’ve never played these teams before. It’s a totally different experience and culture there that I’m really excited to be a part of.”

This community has pushed Coalter to improve her skills as a lacrosse player, leaving her excited and motivated for the rest of the season.

“It’s just a totally new experience and I really am just pushing myself to the limit every practice because I want to earn that spot, no matter what happens,” Coalter said. “I want my skill to do the talking, so I’ve been putting my head down and working.”