It would be fair to say that this is a historic season for lacrosse in the Bethlehem School District. With lacrosse finally being a district sponsored sport, coaches like Liberty's Joe Sexton have a lot less to worry about.

With that issue resolved, Sexton can mostly worry about coaching his team, where the Liberty boys are off to 1-1 start on the season following an up and down start last week.

The Hurricanes opened the season with a 14-5 victory over rival Freedom last week led by three goals each from Ryan Brong, Tyler Seddon and Evan Smith, which proved to be an even more special evening for the 'Canes.

"The win puts us in a decent position to get in the playoffs and puts the ball in our hands now," said Sexton. "Our defense played phenomenal and our offense stayed disciplined, which has been lacking in the past.

"I know Freedom is a lot more talented than what we saw the other night so we will not take them lightly the second time.

"This was the first official Bethlehem School District high school lacrosse game ever played, in contrast to the club games we had in the past. It meant the world to the kids to finally beat their city rivals for the first time, especially in this historic game. Although the rivalry is intense it's great to see how well the kids get along after the game."

Returning for the 'Canes this year includes Mike Morales (midfield, junior), Evan Smith (midfield, senior), Tyler Seddon (midfield, senior), Ryan Brong (attack, senior), Matt Tkacik (attack, senior), Jackson Eighmy (defense, sophomore), Jake Burke (defense, sophomore) and Tom Murphy (attack, sophomore).

Newcomers on the team include defenders Dom Serafini and Jack Lewis, as well as Seddon, who had injury problems most of last year but is back and someone Sexton thinks highly of this season.

With Liberty's offense figured to be a threat anywhere on the field, working on creating space, increasing shot percentages and retaining possession are all areas that Sexton thinks the team needs to work on.

Getting over big wins in a timely manner may be another caveat he'll remind his group about, since they lost to Phillipsburg 12-4 a day after their win over Freedom.

"We played Freedom just the day before and were on a little bit of a high I think," he said. "Usually games with P'burg are neck and neck, we just weren't aggressive enough with ground balls and moving the ball and creating space on offense. We fell behind quickly and it was tough to dig out of the hole. P'burg always plays tough, but are coached well and I believe their feeder program and accompanying experience is catching up."

With that said, Sexton hopes this year continues to be historic to the end.

"Our number one goal is to have fun playing a high school sport," he said. "And number two is to get into the playoffs."