Coming off the best season in the program’s history, the La Jolla Vikings boys lacrosse team has had an up-and-down start to their 2010 season. But head coach Matt Rosenberg is optimistic that a change in their fortunes will occur once City League play begins. High expectations were in store for a team that finished 15-5 last season and lost in the quarterfinal round of the CIF playoffs to Rancho Bernardo. The Vikings returned six starters — including their entire frontline attack — but after five games, they stand at 2-3 and struggling to find any form of consistency on the field. “We lack depth on the roster, as our starters are logging heavy minutes this season,” Rosenberg said. “Our struggles have been trying to replace a couple middies from last season. Casimir Morawski and Kit Livingston were very important to our success, as they were athletic and covered a lot of ground for us.” The hope is that an early season position switch between attacker Matt O’Hara and midfielder Max Ruttman will be the answer to their defensive woes. And each player has fed off of the move. “The switch has gone well, as each is a good team player,” Rosenberg said. “O’Hara is one of the best athletes on the squad, and his maturity level quickly [helped him understand] that the position change was for the betterment of the team. Ruttman makes sound decisions in the offensive zone and he has shown to be a good finisher around the net.” Injuries and a couple of tough early season losses have contributed to the Vikings’ problems, and there was no tougher loss than the 9-8 double overtime thriller to Bishop’s on March 24. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Vikings held a one-goal lead only to see it slip away. They received a momentary reprieve when senior Michael Soumekh, one of the leading scorers in San Diego County, netted his fifth goal of the game with 1 second remaining on the clock to force overtime. The Vikings are missing an important member to their starting lineup in senior attacker Taylor Bourgeois, who has missed several games due to a sore back. The coaching staff is hopeful for his return soon, as the school’s spring break has given Bourgeois almost two weeks of much-needed rest. The Vikings will also need his offensive explosiveness around the net to have any hope of making a move in the second half of the season. With league play underway, the Vikings want to get on a bit of a roll similar to last season, when they had two seven-game winning streaks. Rosenberg knows the road ahead will be difficult, as they must navigate through a tough league schedule, including road games at Cathedral Catholic (April 28) and Coronado (May 14) in the coming weeks. It’s not an unrealistic goal, as Rosenberg is fully confident that his team can turn their season around.