Lacrosse is one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S., with many schools across the country gaining their own teams. That is exactly the goal for the Gretna girls playing on the Sarpy County Knights lacrosse team.
For them, playing for the Sarpy County team is rewarding, but it’s not the same as suiting up for their own school. While the Sarpy County Knights are classified as a high school team under the Midwest Girls Lacrosse League (MGLL), the team serves eighth through twelfth grade girls throughout all of Sarpy County, not just Gretna.
“I love our team and I love the environment that we’ve created, but I also think it’d be so cool to say, like, ‘Yeah, I’m on the school team,’” sophomore Serena Shanahan said. “If students, parents or teachers went out to our games more, I think that would be so cool.”
Surrounding schools, like Millard West, Duchesne and Westside, have their own girls and boys teams. Although not sponsored by the NSAA yet, these teams compete like regular high school teams, being able to represent their schools. They compete against the Sarpy County team, but get to use their schools’ facilities. Currently, the Sarpy County Knights pay to practice at Papillion Landing, with their only coaches being volunteer parents.
“It’d be cool just to be a part of the school sports,” sophomore Chelsea Quindt said. “Like dressing up on game days and just having stuff like that, because right now with lacrosse practices, I feel like I can’t be involved in the school. During the spring, we’re practicing every single night. I don’t really have time to sign up for other school activities, so I think that’d be cool to do something like that as a part of the school.”
Shanahan echoed her statements.
“We’d also have more people in Gretna [involved in lacrosse] and we’d be growing the sport,” she said.
However, the MGLL, the organization that serves many girls’ school teams in the Midwest, needs to approve the separate school team.
“In order to apply to be a team in the Midwest Girls Lacrosse League, a letter is submitted by the team wanting to enter, including coach information, facilities that will be used and if they plan to start as a JV or Varsity team, or both,” MGLL President Tina Claus said. “That application is then reviewed and voted on by the member teams in the league. Each team in the league gets one vote. If a new team is approved to join the league, then we take a look at the existing boundaries and adjust. We have five teams that share Douglas County and the Lady Knights is our only team in Sarpy.”
The league is also anticipating an Elkhorn team in the future.
“New teams like Gretna and Elkhorn joining the league really benefit our current teams because girls get to play more games in the season against additional teams, which allows them to enhance their skills against a variety of playing styles. This extra competition can help girls in MGLL be more competitive for college lacrosse scholarships.”
Currently, there is no coach selected for the team, and the girls are hoping to be approved for next fall, so the team would be established in fall 2026, not this year.
But steps are being taken in the right direction. Earlier this month, several Gretna East Sarpy Knights players hosted a camp to gauge interest in the community, as they need 12 players to officially start a team.
Several younger students from across the district showed up at the camp at Aspen Creek Middle School to learn the skills.
They believe that a high school team would be beneficial to their high school experience as athletes.
“I would be able to be there [practice] sooner, and I could actually go to practices and know people there,” Eliza, a seventh grader at Gretna Middle School, said.
Connection is a large aspect of why the East students want to create a team.
“It’s so much fun, and we’ve created such a great environment on our team that I know we could replicate it in a high school team,” Quindt said. “I think that it’s just sad that the sport isn’t as well-known as it is, because it really is so much fun.”
The players encourage anyone interested to join, even if they don’t have prior experience.
“If you’re wanting to do it, I say you should go for it,” sophomore Lexie Elliott said. “It might seem a little bit scary, but it’s so worth it. It really is. It is just something that becomes so addicting. It’s just a really fun sport. We have a really great community all around with the other teams, refs and coaches.”
