Lacrosse kicks off at home Saturday against Round Rock

Dripping Springs opens the 2021 lacrosse season on February 20, hosting the Round Rock Dragons. Their 12-game regular season will end in April with playoffs beginning in May.

Despite the loss of 18 seniors from last season, which included eight receiving offers to play in the college ranks, the Tigers return a wealth of talent in 2021. Seniors Alex Schlab and Charles Hunt have logged the most varsity minutes on the 2021 roster. Both are team captains and capable of carrying the team on their shoulders. Schlab has nabbed D1 Central District honors since his freshman year. Hunt, a D1 Virginia Military Institute signee, had scored in all eight games in the COVID shortened 2020 season.

“This team operates like a family,” said Schlab. “There are a lot of young guys, but they are very disciplined and completely bought into the culture.”

Culture is everything to the Drip program. Headed into his seventh season at the helm, Coach Bill Cafferata structures everything the team does around nuances he has gleaned from other coaches and psychological studies. For instance, Cal Berkeley did a study on touch with the NBA and found that teams that touch the most (high-five, hug, chest bump) win the most. And those that touch the most also set more picks, play better help defense and get more assists. “If you ever pay attention to our warmups, we manufacture hundreds of physical touches in our pregame just with our entrance,” said Coach Cafferata.

Coach Cody Gould, who happens to carry the title Minister of Culture, had this to say, “We strive to be one percent better every day as student athletes and coaches. Whenever we step on the field, game or practice, we do it with fulleffort.”

As for the young guys Captain Schlab referenced, he was talking about players like Sophomore Taden Frickel. Does the name sound familiar? His brother Brennan is a senior on the baseball team and signed to play with the Houston Cougars. Taden is making a name for himself as a national 2023 Players to Watch. Walker Wright is another sophomore returning letterman. You might recognize his name from football. He was the starting quarterback on the very talented JV team.

Seniors Joe Roberts, Jaden Diaz and Cade Latham are the other 2021 captains.

There is a lot of uncertainty coming in the 2021 season, but one thing is for certain. Coach Caff’s life is going to be a lot busier. He and his wife Starlyn welcomed four babies, yes quadruplets, to their squad in January. Sister Zoe was unavailable for comment.