DE PERE (WLUK) -- De Pere High School is set to honor about 355 seniors during graduation Monday evening, but for nine graduates the event is going to be bittersweet. The nine young women are all starters on the school's lacrosse team that is scheduled to play in the state quarterfinals -- at the same time as commencement.
The De Pere Central Girl's Lacrosse Team has had an incredible year. They went 13-7 this season.
“Two years ago we won one game, so they've come a long way. They've worked hard,” says coach John Uhl.
The team beat Notre Dame on Friday night to move into the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
“We beat them on their senior night by one in overtime,” says team captain Kari McMahon. “We didn't really know how that game was going to go. We knew they were going to come and really give it their all, so that was a really cool game. I think it showed how really hard we worked and it was super rewarding to win that game.”
But that excitement, turned to heartache.
“I'm absolutely devastated. Having to choose between graduation and possibly your last lacrosse game ever was just so disappointing,” says Olivia Kust, another team captain.
Olivia Kust and Kari McMahon are two of the ten seniors on the co-op lacrosse team. Nine of those girls are set to graduate from De Pere High School on Monday night, at the same time the team is scheduled to take on Verona, the number one team in the state -- in the playoffs.
Recognizing the conflict, John Uhl, the De Pere coach immediately contacted the Verona coach to try and reschedule the game. Uhl knows the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation, the organization that oversees high school lacrosse, has a rule that allows for teams to request a change of plus or minus one day for playoff games.
“He had no desire to move the date,” say Uhl about that conversation. He added “So, it went to arbitration with the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation board, which I thought would rule in our favor. I figured, what's more important than graduation to move the date.”
But the federation said the game must go on as scheduled and the graduating seniors wouldn't be able to play.
Uhl says, “We did not ask them to miss graduation. The hard part for me is that they feel guilty that they're letting their team down and that's not right that they're being put in that situation.”
In a statement to Fox 11, the WLF Board of Directors said,
“Like the WIAA, the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation (WLF) sets and publishes a 3-year schedule of dates for the high school lacrosse season. The date for the 2023 quarterfinals has been published and shared with all high school coaches on multiple occasions since October 2021, including 5 direct emails to all head coaches this season. The WLF rules and regulations allow for teams to request a change of +/- 1 day for playoff games. The De Pere Central girls co-op did not submit a request for a change of date until after 10:00pm on Friday, June 3 for a game that was scheduled for Monday, June 5. The WLF made an exhaustive effort over the weekend to accommodate this last-minute request to find a solution that would prevent teams from playing back-to-back and not give other teams an additional competitive advantage for the championship game. Unfortunately, due to the complicated logistics of attempting to reschedule playoff game times, sites, officials and volunteers, in addition to team transportation, the WLF was not able to make the requested change.”
Reacting to the situation, Uhl says, “It's really unfortunate. We're going down there, basically, with a JV team to play the number one team in the state.”
For the seniors, who worked so hard and dedicated the past several years to the program, it's not the ending to their careers they had envisioned.
“As a player, I have grown my skills incredibly, but I feel like as a person I've also grown and I feel like I wanted that closure and closing out our season - even if this wouldn't have been our last game I wanted to play at least one game and know that that would have been the end,” says Kust.
It might be a long shot, but if the De Pere Central team can pull off a victory, graduation might not be the end for the De Pere lacrosse seniors.
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June 06, 2023 at 05:04AM
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Scheduling conflict means 9 De Pere seniors will miss playoff lacrosse game for graduation - Fox11online.com
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