Graduation losses are one of the first things coaches will talk about when entering a new season.

Lose only a couple of players from the previous year and the outlook is usually bright.

Lose a lot, especially at a small school, and the outlook can be a little bleak.

Upper Moreland's girls' lacrosse team lost nine seniors from a 2023 team that made history by qualifying for the PIAA Class 2A tournament for the first time.

That's great stuff, but, on the surface, it didn't bode well for the 2024 team.

So much for the surface.

This year's Golden Bears did last year's squad one better by not only qualifying for states for the second straight year, but also by winning a first-round game for the first time (an 11-9 victory over District Two champion Abington Heights) after a fourth-place finish in the PIAA District One tournament.

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It all adds up to the Golden Bears being named the Courier Times/Intelligencer Team of the Year for the second straight season.

"We came into this season just thinking let's see what we can do after we lost a lot of really good players to graduation for last year's team," UM head coach Kim Frantz said. "I knew that we still had good talent on the team, but this group far exceeded my expectations."

An influx of youngsters helped keep the Golden Bears on the winning path.

"Four freshmen came in that would become starters and that changed the whole dynamic," Frantz said. "They're soccer players first, and lacrosse is a side thing for them, but they caught on very quickly and the whole team really got along well and melded together."

Those freshmen — Madeline Cox, Keiley Hawk, Keira Hess and Leah King, along with senior cousins Molly and Olivia Meakim and seniors Cambria Richmond, Maggie Morrow and Willow Taylor, juniors Annalise Messina, Addi Hurley, Avery Adamski and Charlie Clement and sophomores Ella Gould and Maggie Brophy — made it all work.

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"We are losing some significant players this year that meant so much to what we're trying to do," Frantz said.

"That group accomplished so much and they, and the younger players, should all be proud of what they were able to do."

Drew Markol covers local sports for PhillyBurbs.com. Support our journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: High School Girls' Lacrosse: Upper Moreland earns team of year honors