Going for the Gold
By Emma Wolf
Hinsdale Central Girls’ Lacrosse Head Coach Matt McNiff shares the details on what makes the team strong, competitive, and ready to give it everything they’ve got this season. Currently ranked as #4 in the Midwest and ranked in the top 50 teams in the U.S., the Hinsdale Central High School girls’ lacrosse team is undoubtedly going for the gold this season. After having two rocky seasons during the past couple “Covid years”, the team is back and ready to dominate this season. In 2018, the team won state. In 2019, they took second place in state. In 2020, lacrosse and all other spring sports were cancelled due to Coronavirus. In 2021, the team faced another year full of question marks and uncertainty, but they ended up taking third place in state. Now, in 2022, the girls want to reclaim their victory by taking first place once again. “These girls want to go to state this year and they want to win,” McNiff said. “They want to be number one.” The team has been training hard and they simply won’t settle for anything less than the best. With the first game being on March 14th, the lacrosse team is giving this season their all. The season begins in March and ends in June. “This off season, we brought back our off-season workout program.
This consists of the girls working in the weight room three days per week,” McNiff said. “There honestly has not been one complaint. The Seniors have really led and guided the team and they work really well together. There is a lot of team bonding going on here.” McNiff actually fell into the role unintentionally, but he now adores being a part of it. He started out as being the temporary lacrosse coach while the school’s athletic program searched for a permanent coach. He soon fell in love with the role and was hired for the long term. This is McNiff’s second year being Head Coach, but he has multiple other athletic coaching experiences on his resume. He serves as the Assistant Athletic Director at Hinsdale Central High School, and he also coached football for eight years. His main job and passion, however, is being a Special Education teacher at the high school. While coaching lacrosse is somewhat new territory to McNiff, he is loving every part of it. “I am very blessed to be able to work with these amazing young women everyday. I have gotten to witness them grow into better players and better athletes, and that has been so rewarding,” McNiff said. “The lacrosse team has taught me how to be a better coach and they are also showing me how to be a girl dad, since I have a seven month-old baby girl at home.” There is also a lacrosse feeder program, which is essentially a program that introduces incoming Hinsdale Central student athletes to the sport. The program focuses on 6th-8th grade girls, which allows them to learn the sport while also meeting their potential teammates and playing lacrosse with them on a competitive level, giving the girls an accurate feel of what playing at the high school level will be like. Make sure to show your support for the Hinsdale Central girls’ lacrosse team this season!
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