The 2019 season was a daunting one for the Junior B Tier II Olds Stingers.
By the time the season ended this past Sunday, June 16, their record was 1-16.
Head coach Laine Foshaug says that's not due to a lack of talent or effort.
He says the problem this year was a short bench and the fact that some rookies found it a challenge to adapt to the faster-paced, higher skill level of junior lacrosse.
"We've got a few kids — it's their first year in juniors, so they're new to the junior scene. But they're playing well, they're doing good, they're learning lots," Foshaug said during an interview with the Albertan.
The short bench was also an issue.
"We lost a couple of players — just work-related things," Foshaug said. "They didn't have the time to play lacrosse, unfortunately.
"A couple of the games we've gotten blown out. But it wasn't like that right off the bat. We started strong and we were keeping pace. And then, with our small bench, we just kind of got gassed. And then they just kind of pulled ahead of us because they had more runners," he said.
"It's a tough thing, but we still stay in the game. We try our best, we give it our all and we try hard all the way through, for the full 60 minutes."
Foshaug is confident next year will be better.
"We've got a core group right now of good guys," he said. "They'll come back next year, hopefully, and we'll have that same core and we'll build off that core and we'll get everybody on the same page and we'll be a strong team."
The team has the right building blocks, Foshaug said.
"Our scoring's good. We spread our scoring out amongst a lot of the guys so we don't just have one guy getting all the goals," he said.
"Our defence is strong, our offence is good. Goaltending's really good. It's just minor things — sometimes just a couple of hiccups that happen and it's just trying to recover from them."
The team stayed positive, despite the daunting record.
"I'm proud of all these guys in that dressing room. They're all great kids. They're great athletes and they try their best and they try their hardest, all the time — in practice and in games," Foshaug said.
