4 Questions With Milton Girls Lacrosse Coach Tim Godby
We spoke with Milton girls lacrosse coach Tim Godby about their recent state championship win.
Q: Coach, first of all, congratulations on winning the class 7A girls lacrosse state championship. Did you feel like you had the team to beat this season heading into the playoffs?
A: Thank you. Yes, I felt like we had a good enough team to win at the beginning of the season. We had six returning seniors with four years of varsity experience and Division I commits. One of these seniors suffered an injury in the pre-season and was out the whole season. However, with even these five experienced players, the remaining 20 players had limited varsity experience due to the season being cut short in 2020. We had a lot of learning to do, and we had to figure out our positions and rotations and what worked best for us offensively and defensively. We started out the season looking like an inexperienced team who hasn’t played much together, but continued to improve throughout the season and played our best lacrosse in the playoffs when it mattered most.
Q: So, there are many readers who will see this and want to know more about the sport of lacrosse. Can you give us a brief overview of the sport? How many players are on the field for each team? What are the position names?
A: The best sport to compare lacrosse to is basketball. The way teams set up offensive and defensive strategies are nearly identical. Some elements that are similar are full court press, fast break, man and zone defense, isolation plays and plays to pass into the middle. In the girls game, there are 12 players on the field: four attacks, three midfielders, four defenders and a goalie.
Q: I know, like any team sport, it’s not all about one player, but you guys had Maddie Dora there at Milton, and she is considered to be one of, if not the top player in the state. (Maddie is headed to USC after committing to the Trojans early in her high school career). How much did she mean to your team this season?
A: Maddie meant a lot to our team. One on one, she was unguardable. She’s the type of player that, if opponents try to stop her, it opens things up for everyone else. Nobody really tried to stop her this season, and she averaged six goals per game. Not until the state finals did the opponents’ game plan focus on stopping Maddie. We were ready and prepared for that, and she answered with one goal and four assists. We had three players score three goals, and six girls scored in the game. When the opponent focused on trying to stop Maddie, it opened things up for her teammates.
Q: Do you feel like the sport is growing in popularity? Is the key to get more schools across the entire state involved in Lacrosse?
A: Yes, it’s definitely growing. Lacrosse has been the fastest growing sport since I began coaching in 2005. It continues to grow outside of the metro Atlanta area. Once people see the game, they realize it’s fun to watch and play because it’s fast-paced and high-scoring, unlike some other sports that are low-scoring or slow-paced.
Written by: Phil Jones
