LEWISTON – Ask the Lewiston High School girls’ lacrosse captains if they harbor any goals for their senior season, and the answer is no modest proposal.

“State championship,” goaltender Stephanie Belanger said without hesitation. “Our ultimate goal is to get to June 20 and play at that level.”

Tough talk, considering that only four current Class A schools have hoisted the state trophy since the Maine Principals’ Association instituted the sport in 1998, and Lewiston isn’t one of them.

Brunswick became the first school north of Cumberland County to win a girls’ lacrosse championship in any class last year, and that was after a one-sided win over Lewiston in the regional semifinals. The Blue Devils’ preceding victory over Cony was their first-ever postseason triumph.

So why all this sudden confidence from a program that’s clearly still growing and under the tutelage of its third different coach in four years?

In a word, hockey.

Many of Lewiston’s players in this resurgent, hybrid sport skated for the Devils over the winter, collaborating for the inaugural state title in girls’ hockey. And they don’t see why the green grass and warmth of spring should kill that momentum.

“Getting that first (lacrosse) playoff win, I think being at that level made them want it more,” said Lewiston coach Christy Gardner. “And the fact that several of them are hockey players coming off a state championship, they want another one. They’re prepared to work that hard.”

Lewiston bid farewell to a wealth of scoring punch as well as former coach Bill Grant after last season’s growth spurt to 9-5, including that quarterfinal victory over Cony.

Still, the Blue Devils flaunt a familiar look.

Gardner, a 2000 graduate of Edward Little, led the JV team last season. Co-captains Belanger, Shelby Turcotte, Michelle Rancourt, Olivia Fournier and Kelsey Cote all enter at least their third season with the varsity.

“I think things are looking pretty good so far. Actually it’s been going really well. A lot of teams lost players like we lost players,” Rancourt said. “We have a lot of girls now who are sophomores, juniors or seniors who are starting for the first time. They’ve picked it up pretty quickly, so it’s showing how girls are starting to take an interest at all ages, (recreation) through high school.”

Rec programs are the lifeblood of local programs such as Lewiston, EL and Oxford Hills as they struggle to keep pace with affluent, southern communities that have been on board with lacrosse since at least the early 1990s.

Only four freshmen filtered into the program this season, but dozens of players presently are learning the game in junior high.

“There’s a lot of girls coming up,” Fournier said. “We’ve been doing a lot of clinics for the younger girls.”

For now, Lewiston will rely on experience and grit instead of overwhelming depth.

“The key is the leadership of the senior class we have,” said Gardner. “These girls have been playing for so many years now. They do have the heart and drive almost like a college team. The girls look up to them a lot. The captains’ votes were absolutely unanimous.”

Gardner is an example of how quickly someone can get acclimated to the game. She was a field hockey goaltender who never played lacrosse in high school.

Upon enrolling at Long Island University, where lacrosse was a religion to dozens of colleges within a short radius, she was drawn to the spring alternative sport almost immediately.

She eventually backstopped a team that reached the NCAA Division II final four.

“When I played, they didn’t even have it here, and then when I went to New York, I was like, ‘Oh my God, what is that?’ I red-shirted as a freshman,” Gardner said. “My teammates taught me to play, and I (ended up) on a $10,000 scholarship.”

Retired from the Army after suffering an injury overseas, Gardner takes over a program that seems to be one stabilizing presence away from a spot among the state’s elite.

“We have a lot of skill on our team. It’s really getting built up a lot,” said Belanger. “We’ve seen the teams the last four years. We know what’s out there and what to expect.”

While reserving the greatest expectations for themselves, of course.