The 2012 Lacrosse season is just around the corner, which means another exciting year for high school lacrosse in West Des Moines, Iowa.  Last year the Tigers finished the regular season with just two losses under their belt – both to league powerhouse Creighton Prep.  A third loss to Prep in the state semifinal sent Valley to the league’s consolation game where the Tigers defeated Millard West by ten goals to finish third overall.  Last season was an improvement on the team’s first at the varsity level, where they finished fourth overall.

Over the course of the off season, the Nebraska High School Lacrosse League lost another team – Millard South – but replaced them with Bellevue, who played a JV schedule last year.  After losing two teams – River City and Papio La Vista – following the 2010 season, the impact will be reduced this year.

Despite the numbers remaining static, however, the league has reformatted its match ups.  Last year the eight teams were broken into two divisions; each team played its three division mates twice and the other teams once.  This year, every team will play each other twice.  Unfortunately, this impacts individual teams’ ability to schedule competition from outside of the league.  As a result, the Tigers will not open their season by hosting teams from Minnesota and Wisconsin this year…

The 2012 regular season features a fairly equal split between home and away games.  All Valley home games are currently scheduled to be held at the enclosed football field on the Valley Southwoods campus.  While there are some bleachers and hillside seating, it would be advisable to bring chairs and/or blankets.  The team is not planning to offer concessions this year, but there will be real bathrooms available.  Changes to the location of home games will be announced on the team’s website: www.wdmvalleylax.com

2012 Valley Tigers Varsity Schedule – Home

 Saturday 3/31 12:00 pm vs Millard North*

Saturday 4/7 12:00 pm Millard West  –  3:00 pm Burke

Sunday 4/22 1:00 pm Westside

Saturday 4/28 10:00 am Creighton Prep* — 2:00 pm Bellevue*

Saturday 5/5 3:00 pm Lincoln Rampage*

Saturday 5/13 12:00 pm Westside*

*JV game to follow

The away schedule is available on the team website, but the field locations have not been finalized.  Once they are confirmed, I will post that schedule here as well.  In addition to the Tigers’ league opponents, Valley will face Olathe and Blue Valley North from the Kansas City Lacrosse League on Saturday, April 21 in Omaha.