The Atoms lacrosse team looks forward to the 2026 season after an improvable 3-9 campaign in 2025.
The team opened the past season with a win against the Osborne Eagles before taking four consecutive losses. Overall, they finished the 2025 season 3-9 with those three wins coming from games against teams with a record far under .500, and the only district win they had was against the Lewis Lancers, who stood at last place in the district, the Atoms not being far ahead as the 7th seed. All in all, there are definitely areas for their improvement, to say the least.
One of those improvements is just purely having fun.
“An area of improvement as a team is how we are all having more fun playing together, and we are also getting more positive as a team,” junior Mohammed Adi said.
Lacrosse is one of the most popular spring sports at AHS besides soccer, which is very popular in most Northern Virginia schools. Soccer is by a good margin the most known spring sports due to its international coverage and regional popularity within Northern Virginia. However, lacrosse is popular as well, and Head Coach Bill Maglisceau is satisfied with the turnout that lacrosse had for tryouts:
“The tryout turnout’s been pretty good, but we could use some more, to be honest. We have about 65 kids who have expressed interest but not all of them have been coming due to eligibility, physicals, etc., but we’re still optimistic,” he said.
Maglisceau is also looking forward to this season, as it will be his last one as the head lacrosse coach before he retires.
“I would like to be able to give the kids an extraordinary experience and also to get them to want to stay involved in lacrosse even when the season’s done. Whether it’s coaching at the youth league, trying to play in college, maybe becoming a referee, that sort of thing, Maglisceau said. “I hope that [my players will ]understand that lacrosse is a lifelong thing and not just a one season thing.”
Some players moving from JV to varsity are excited to face improved competition this year compared to last year where they faced the Justice Wolves last season, whose JV had a 1-1 record against AHS.
“Beating Justice would make me personally very happy and I believe the team feels the same way,” junior varsity player Eyosias Mengesha said.
Going into the 2026 season, Hayfield still remains the team to beat in the National District, with them coming off a season going 14-5, being the only team in the National District to have an overall winning percentage over .600. Hayfield also went undefeated with a 7-0 record in conference play. Edison is also a threat in the district, as they won seven of their eight district games in the 2025 season. As opposed to Hayfield however, Edison went only 9-7 overall (2-6 in non-district games). As for the rest of the National District, no teams won over 6 total games last season outside of Hayfield and Edison.
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