Fairfield-Echo.com

Senior Jared Morris admits that in January he didn't have high expectations for the Fairfield lacrosse team in its inaugural season.

"In January, we were just doing pitching and catching drills," he said.

Three months later, this young and inexperienced squad — more than half have never played before and more than 70 percent are freshmen — are on the verge of doing what Morris once thought was improbable.

At 5-6 with four games left, the Indians could finish over .500.

"They've definitely progressed a lot," said Morris, one of three seniors on the team. "Now we have more people cutting, guys going in and out. There's more passing now for sure."

Fairfield, which currently competes at the "club" level, has played four varsity teams and seven JV teams.

"Physically, we're kind of like a JV team, maybe more like a JV B team," Morris said. "It can be tough, because a lot of these teams are just bigger. These freshmen, they're playing kids who have at least 30 pounds on them."

Fairfield's five wins came against Clinton County (11-6), Clinton County again (15-7), Sycamore's JV (4-3), St. Xavier's JV (5-4), and Centerville's JV (7-3).

"I expected maybe two or three wins this season," coach Adam Welling said. "This whole year has been all about learning (the fundamentals). There's no sense in getting into things that are too complicated at this point.

"The big thing is reminding them to never stand still," Welling continued. "In lacrosse, you can sub freely. The play doesn't stop, so we expect them to go all out."

The next step for Fairfield lacrosse is to receive varsity recognition from its school.

"We're hoping to get some sort of recognition from the school, as in them letting us use the fields and lockers more regularly," Welling said.

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