This could be a special season for a special program. Cathedral High School boys lacrosse has a reputation of the highest of standards and the loftiest of annual goals – and the 2025 Irish are capable of meeting those standards and goals. They’re a state-level program with state-title aspirations in ’25. “They have all the makings of one of the better teams we’ve had,” Andy Gruber said. The Irish, five-time Indiana High School Lacrosse Association state champions in Gruber’s 25 seasons as head coach, started the 2025 season 7-3 while again playing one of the state’s toughest schedules. Their lone early losses were to strong out-of-state and in-state programs – and they also registered multiple impressive victories, including a 12-10 victory over Culver Academies on April 11. “We believe this is the kind of team that can win a state championship,” Gruber said. “I think they’re realizing that. We’ll see how the rest of the season plays out. It’s a great group of kids – fantastic people to be around and hard-working. “If they can consistently mentally focus for 48 minutes every game, I think we will have a real shot here.” The Irish’s lone losses at midseason were to Cincinnati St. Xavier (12-5), Louisville St. Xavier (12-7) and Hamilton Southeastern (11-7). The Irish also through 10 games had victories over Center Grove (13-7), Zionsville (18-3) and a strong St. Louis MICDS (9-7) team. “They provided nearly 48 minutes of focus in the MICDS game and it was a fantastic game for them,” Gruber said. “MICS is a fantastic team. They have six Division One commits. That was great win for us.” The Irish entered the season motivated and experienced after a strong ’24 season ended with a state semifinal loss to Hamilton Southeastern, a team the Irish beat during the regular season. “We were right there,” Gruber said. “It hurt quite a bit, but from a coaches’ standpoint, you look back and you see where we went wrong. We were a bit immature offensively and we weren't probably as tough as we should've been in certain circumstances, so we have redesigned a few things practice-wise to put in a little bit more physicality into certain drills and to be tighter on some of our practice schedules to keep everybody on a mental focus.” The ’25 Irish are a strong offensive and defensive team, with seniors throughout the defense and an offense filled with talented juniors and sophomores. “This is a group that has been together for the past couple of years on offense, and I think it shows,” Gruber said. “When they’re clicking, they can be very dangerous.” The Irish’s senior-dominated defense is led by Jake Mayer and Austin Clark, a pair Gruber said have done a “fantastic job” through the first half of the season in front of sophomore goaltender Ben Parr. “He has been playing really well,” Gruber said of Parr. A solid, talented offense that Gruber said goes 10 players deep features: *Junior Gus Art, attack (18 goals through nine games, 14 assists). *Junior Owen Pac, attack (20 goals, eight assists). *Sophomore Dixon Hornsby, sophomore midfield (22 goals, six assists). “Those three have just been hammers offensively – incredibly talented athletic players,” Gruber said. “Each are putting up multiple goal games in every game, regardless of the opponent. They're really the driving factor. “We have a lot of other really talented players around them that are playing well, but if someone were to scout us, they're probably trying to figure out how to game plan for those three knowing that they also have a lot of other guys out there who can pick up the slack when needed.” Junior Ford Lee has 14 goals and five assists through 10 games, with senior Patrick Crisp registering 11 goals and five assists. “We have a very good team,” Gruber said. “We’ve had some good wins. We haven’t hit the nirvana of having all the right pieces of every position hitting at a high level at the same time.” And if that happens, Gruber said the Irish have potential for yet another strong postseason run. “This has all the makings of being a very, very strong team and we’re excited to see what happens next,” Gruber said. “The coaches are very high on the team. We have very high expectations for them. “They know what's in front of them. We had a good midseason review. We played a lot of good teams. The schedule is more difficult than it was last year and so they were tested in a lot of good games. So far, so good, but we'll see what the second half holds and then obviously into the playoffs.”