Missy Bruvik has enjoyed a legendary tenure as the head coach of the Stuart Country Day School field hockey program, winning a slew of county and prep titles along the way.

This spring, Bruvik is taking the helm of the Stuart lacrosse program and she is looking to instill that positive spirit in her new team.

“For me, it was just an opportunity to coach both fall and spring this year; it is a lot of the same kids,” said Bruvik, who has served as an assistant coach in the Stuart lax program over the years under three head coaches.

“We are trying things we have done in the past and trying to make that connection between our field hockey and lacrosse players.”

Bruvik’s presence has helped attract a strong turnout of 22 players this spring.

“Kids have come back out who haven’t played in a couple of years and players who have never played who are willing to try the sport,” said Bruvik.

The Tartans headed to Florida in March for a preseason trip, trying to get a jump on things by taking part in the Hogan Lax Spring Team Training program.

“It was fabulous, the kids feel like they are three weeks ahead of where they were last year,” said Bruvik.

“They were saying they were there for lacrosse and they took full advantage of it. We had triple sessions every day. We had a lot of help from the Hogan lacrosse; it was not too big, but perfect sized. The coaches got to know all of our kids’ names.”

While Stuart opened the season with a 12-9 loss to Gill St. Bernard’s last Wednesday, Bruvik believes her squad gained some hard-earned knowledge from the setback.

“They were two pretty evenly matched teams; we were losing possession through unforced turnovers on our part,” said Bruvik.

“We got down three goals early and we did sneak back to two. It is just learning to take care of the ball, slow it down, and be patient.”

Senior Izy Engel and junior Ali Hannah each scored four goals to trigger the Stuart offense in the loss.

“Izy is playing the midfield and Ali is on attack but we are rotating them; they are both going to see some attack and midfield time,” said Bruvik.

“I love the fact that we had five different girls in the box score. Grace Sheppard had a goal. Lauren Magnini and Caitlyn Delaney had assists. We had a lot of great connecting passes. Our goal is for all of our attack players to be aggressive and a threat.”

Senior Alexxa Newman starred in goal, making 10 saves as she returned to the team after not playing in 2016.

“Alexxa gets better every day, she gets more confident.” said Bruvik. “She is getting better angles and her eye-hand coordination is improving. She stands in there, she is fearless.”

Bruvik is seeing improvement across the field. “The defense is being led by Claire Landers, Bey-Shana Clark, and Marissa Lewis,” added Bruvik.

“In our midfield is Tina Lu, she is a senior and she is experienced. We also have Izzy, Delaney, and Gin Gin Plehn in the midfield.”

With Stuart heading into a busy week, Bruvik is looking for her veterans to lead the way.

“There is great team chemistry, we have eight seniors,” said Bruvik, whose team plays at Hun on April 7 and at the Solebury School (Pa.) on April 10 before hosting Hamilton on April 11.

“I think it is really putting the little things together, like coming out of the backfield and working on our transition game. Trust is not an issue, they are trusting each other. It is putting a complete game together. It is about being mentally prepared more than anything right now and continuing to build our skills.”