Sore muscles, endless trips to the water fountain and the satisfaction of having won the 2018 California Interscholastic Federation LA City Section Championship are what sophomore Maria Ruiz recalls from her first year on girls varsity lacrosse.

“I was stoked when we won,” Ruiz said. “The last time we played against Palisades Charter High School was really intense and super close so we weren’t sure who’d win.”

After playing and practicing with the JV team for almost the entire Spring season, Ruiz was bumped up to a position as attacker on Birmingham Community Charter’s Varsity lacrosse team by her coach, Scott Silva. Although the move wasn’t the simplest transition she’s made, several of her teammates were transferred along with her, which made the move less difficult.

“I’d say it wasn’t too difficult, but the other players and I definitely had to learn to keep up because the varsity team had their own dynamic going on,” Ruiz said.

With only about a month of practice on the varsity team under her belt, Ruiz, along with the remaining Birmingham Lady Patriots, won the LA City Section Championship 10-6 against the Palisades Dolphins for the fifth consecutive year, marking the team’s fourteenth win of the season.

Junior Lucy Ishkhanian, who originally played on the school’s varsity team but left because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament, was unable to participate in any of the team’s games but was consistently present to take stats for her teammates and even help coach the JV team. Through and through, Ishkhanian’s involvement with the team seems to motivate her to recover faster in hopes that she can play next year.

“This is my first year experiencing this type of win which gets me really excited to see what might come out of the next couple seasons,” Ruiz said.