For Beth Dooley, the best part of being the head coach of Memorial’s girls lacrosse team is never having to be quiet. The first-year mentor leads a Crusaders squad that hasn’t seen a win in more than two years.

But not having to hold her tongue has kept the Crusaders smiling and positive despite their winless record.

“I was an assistant coach at Plymouth (State University),” said Dooley. “But now I can say whatever I want because it’s my own program. I can get on them about the bad things, but then be the first one to talk about the good things. We don’t talk about the bad anymore, but look at every good thing we did each game.”

Though Dooley brings college playing and coaching experience to the Crusaders, she said the transition to high school wasn’t what she expected.

From a roster full of players with developed lax skills, Dooley now leads athletes who never picked up a stick prior to making the Memorial roster.

The team’s improvement was evident in a 12-6 loss to city rival West on May 10. The Crusaders posted their second highest-scoring performance of the year. Their best offensive attack came a week prior in a 13-9 loss to Central.

“We’re a very new program with no feeder program,” said Auburn senior Jenna Stitt. “It’s hard because we’re so much less experienced than other teams. But we’re getting better.

We can see it. Our first game against West we went out and tried, but this time you could see it in the score, in shots-on-goal, in interceptions.”

Stitt shares the captaincy with goalie Cassie Cronin, who logged 14 saves against West, center Natasha Poulin and Nicole Adinolfo, who each scored one goal against the Blue Knights. Poulin and Adinolfo lead a Crusaders offense that’s recorded 25 goals in 11 games.

Freshmen standouts Samantha Gonzalez and Alison Gogna, both of Auburn, give the team a strong nucleus for the future. Gonzalez, an attack/ wing, put up one goal against West, while Gogna played well at different positions.

Poulin led Memorial’s scoring with three goals against West.

“I’ve got 30 people on the roster, and you have to try to keep everyone positive,” said Dooley. “Every game we always end on a positive note. I want everyone to know it’ll take time to turn things around, but if we stay positive, it’ll be a lot more fun.”