Two years after reaching the state Division 3 finals, the Bedford High School girls’ lacrosse team reloaded and finished the 2024 season ranked eighth statewide.
Following last week’s quarterfinals loss to eventual state champion Medfield High School, Head Coach Nicole Lespasio said she was proud of the 2024 season “because of all the obstacles we faced that we did our best as a collective program to overcome. The [number] of season-ending injuries we faced this year was more than I have ever experienced as a coach and a player.”
She attributed much of the current success to efforts to realize “the right and healthy mindset to put our best selves in our games. The sport itself is much more than learning stick skills and gaining endurance on the field. There is also conditioning the mind.”
So, the program connected with Dr. Greg Margolis, a 2008 BHS graduate who earned a doctoral degree in sports psychology from Springfield College and owns Margolis Performance Group that specializes in sports psychology. Margolis is also head coach of the women’s soccer team at University at Buffalo, SUNY.
“Our sessions with him provided us some insight into why we do some of the things we do, and some tools to help us get out of our own ways mentally to better ourselves and our program,” Lespasio said. “It is something I see us pursuing more in the future. We’re always looking for whatever opportunities we can take to help better ourselves in all the ways possible.
“The work towards next season has already started, and I am very excited with all the possibilities to come with the new incoming freshmen, and seeing the other players step up and fill the shoes of our awesome five seniors who left a large impact on the program,” Lespasio said.
“Of course, we’re always going to be saddened when we lose. However, I don’t think I would use the word ‘disappointed’ when thinking of our last game,” the coach said. “That word would be utilized when I know the team and players could have done better. The girls truly did what we asked of them, left everything out on the field, and learned from the experience.”
She paid tribute to former BHS head boys’ basketball coach and physical education teacher Jim Byrnes, who died unexpectedly earlier this year. The 2024 lacrosse team motto, she said, was inspired by Coach Byrnes’s “Hard. Smart. Together.”
“I had the honor of being one of his students, and we got close from our classes and my cheerleading basketball games,” she said, “This motto was exactly what we needed to get ourselves going and stay going in trying times.”
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