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# John Stark girls lacrosse disappointed to miss out on growth, experiences
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/john-stark-girls-lacrosse-disappointed-to-miss-out-on-growth-experiences/
- Published: 2020-06-05T15:45:01.000Z
- Updated: 2020-06-05T15:45:01.000Z
- Description: When preparing for this spring during the offseason, Sam Weaver knew that her John Stark High School girls lacrosse team would look different in June than it did in March. The Generals graduated 10 seniors from 2019's playoff squad and saw one of their top returning players transfer to prep school.
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, Generals, girls lacrosse, John Stark, NH High School Sports Insider, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

When preparing for this spring during the offseason, Sam Weaver knew that her John Stark High School girls lacrosse team would look different in June than it did in March.

The Generals graduated 10 seniors from 2019's playoff squad and saw one of their top returning players transfer to prep school.

With a lot of underclassmen expected to fill roles on varsity, the 2020 season was going to be one that featured some growing pains and hopefully some experience that would carry over to the next season.

Unfortunately, with the season cancelled, now that won't be the case.

"We had a motivated group," said Weaver, the Generals coach. "We had players from last year returning to varsity, but we were putting them in different roles because they were more experienced.

"We had a couple of defenders move to midfield to help the attack. Now there are going to be a lot of new faces."

John Stark, which went 8-6 last year and made the playoffs for the fifth year in a row in Division II, had just three seniors - Anna Salisbury, Kathryn Reph and Makayla Couturier - on the roster for this year, and one of them was excited by the enthusiasm that went into the team's offseason preparations.

"We were doing so much work," Salisbury said. "I was definitely curious to see what was going to happen since we did have so many young players. I think we were going to have a good group. Physically, we were going to be ready. Girls were definitely determined to learn."

The feeling of devastation Salisbury said she felt was about more than just missing her senior year of lacrosse. There were other factors, like spending time and creating memories with teammates, along with the little things.

"Last year, we did a lot of fundraising so we could get new uniforms for this season," she said. "We didn't get new gear last year so we could save for uniforms.

"I would have loved to have another season with Coach Sam."

As a former youth coach, Weaver, who is in her second year as the varsity coach, has known a lot of the players since before they were at John Stark.

"From previous experiences coaching them, there are a lot of hard workers," she said. "It's sad that we didn't get to see them all together. Even if we didn't have an amazing record, I was really looking forward to this season."

With the Generals in need of leadership next year, Weaver has seen a couple of girls step up and try to take on those responsibilities even with the team unable to get together.

Junior Andra Dagenais has stepped up to help with workouts and keeping in touch with players, according to the coach. Sophomore Emma Edwards has been helping to organize a celebration of the seniors and has picked up other leadership roles.

Another sophomore, Maria Hager, had been leading by example during the offseason and was set to move up to varsity for the first time.

"She showed up for like 90 percent of our workouts," Weaver said. "They've done a nice job of staying connected. It's a challenging time for their academic careers as well, but they've done a great job to keep communicating with teammates."

Salisbury believes the girls who are returning will have the motivation - whether its from coaches, teammates or within - to come back with the same effort next year.

And she wants them to never take each other for granted.

"If I had a bad game or I beat myself up, my teammates would always lift my spirits," she said. "I'm going to miss that whole aspect of it. The best part of playing high school sports is that your teammates are your friends.

"That's such a cliche thing to say, but they're always there for you and always cheering you on. I'm going to miss that the most."