The Antioch Sequoits lacrosse team has not been around for very long but has seen many changes since its conception. On top of having had two head coaches in the past six years, the team also switched its name from the Seagles when the team consisted of athletes from both Antioch and Lakes. However, over the past four seasons, one of the few similarities of the team year over year has been senior Tegan Martinez, who has had a role on the varsity team all four tears, with his last two being spent as the team’s captain. For Martinez, the past four seasons have been some of the greatest times of his life.
Martinez started playing in seventh grade. At the time, lacrosse was only interesting to him because all of his friends were playing it. He learned he had a true love for the sport as he joined. He made lacrosse, not just a sport he played in the spring for the school; he made it something that he looks forward to almost every day, going so far as to join a travel team.
“Not only myself, but a lot of my teammates made big improvements by playing for a travel team in the school team’s offseason,” Martinez said.
In doing this, he improved his skills to be one of the best on the team. His teammates noticed this ability to help multiple teammates. Martinez has been able to help players make varsity. Senior Paul Adams is a first-year lacrosse player and, with the help of Martinez, was able to make varsity.
“Tegan has been there since I started playing and taught me almost everything I know,” Adams said.
It’s no doubt that a considerable part of any success that the lacrosse team has had over the past four years comes partly from Martinez. The team is looking forward to another great season that kicked off with the first game against Jacobs High School on March 15, where Martinez ended the game with two goals. Along with two goals by sophomore Jake Pankau, three goals by sophomore Ryan Swanson, four goals by sophomore Jack Holway, one goal by senior Ty Jones and one goal by senior Logan Rosenthal. There were also great defensive plays by sophomore Nick Day, sophomore Ryan Hanrahan and senior Josh Frye. Senior goalie Jack Fritz only allowed two goals to help the Sequoits pick up their first win of the season, 13-2. Throughout the game, one could hear Martinez being a vocal leader helping his players on their way to winning the game.
“Tegan is a good leader because he isn’t scared to step up and take control of what’s going on and change it for the better,” Day said.
The Antioch lacrosse team believes that they will have great success and will be able to show off the new skills they gained from the offseason.
“I’m excited for the new upcoming guys to see what they bring and to show off our offseason training,” Day said.
Many players pair that with Martinez’s success as a captain. Living in a small town like Antioch has allowed Martinez to grow up and play with a lot of the kids he grew up alongside. His success as a captain has come from the chemistry that Martinez has with many of the younger kids who he was able to practice and grow alongside…
“I feel confident about this year because I feel we have good chemistry,” Swanson said.
During the 2021 season, the Sequoits ended with a 4-10 record and finished in fifth place with a 2- 4 record in the NLCC. While this may not seem like ideal stats for the team, this is an improvement from the previous year, which was before COVID-19 where they ended with a record of 2-15 and were last place in the NLCC with a 0-4 record. Although with the previous year’s finish and their improvement over the offseason, they are looking to have great success, and Martinez is looking to finish his senior year strong.
“I think that this year will be a good one for us,” Martinez said. “We look like a much better team because a lot of us played together in the offseason.”
As he enters his last season, he thinks about the past four years and how being on varsity has shaped his career. He looks back on some of the greatest teammates he has ever had and all the great games he had with those teammates.
“[One of] my favorite memories that I have from lacrosse was the double-overtime win that we had last year,” Martinez said.
Many people believe Martinez’s best quality is his vocal leadership. They feel that Martinez is very good at keeping things organized on the field while also being a good teammate and giving everyone chances to score.
“Tegan is a good leader because he keeps everything organized and keeps everyone accountable,” Adams said. “He tries to keep practice productive and at a high pace to prepare us for the game.”
However, Martinez believes he is better at leading by example than anything else. Martinez feels his voice is not the only thing that allows people to succeed but the fact that he has the skills to lead by example.
“I am not the most vocal leader, but I think that I lead by example very well,” Martinez said. “With all the young kids on the team, I have to coach them sometimes and help them understand certain things.”
With the help of Martinez, the Sequoits are looking at a great rest of the season ahead.
