Chemistry and fundamentals. Those are the two things Old Rochester Regional girls lacrosse coach Scott Tavares identified as keys to his team’s success.

Despite four seniors graduating last year, the lacrosse team is off to a perfect 4-0 start, and scoring lots of goals in the process. Most recently, the team beat Apponoquet 21-10 on April 12.

“We have a really solid group of talent in the juniors and seniors,” Tavares said. “And you’ve seen that effect already. Offensively, we don’t lack players who can score.”

Since offense hasn’t been a problem, Tavares said he’s focusing on the team’s transitional game from the defensive zone to the offensive zone, and on just making sure the players have the basics down to a T.

“We’ve been trying to focus on playing sound, fundamental defense,” he said. “We’ve got to be better there.”

Tavares is now in his second year as coach, and said with one year under the belt he has had a pretty seamless transition from season to season.

“The team has experience playing as a unit,” he said. “We’ve got a solid core group that has played together before.”

This experience is important, Tavares said, because the chemistry the players have off the field has also translated positively on the field.

“They get along off the field and have pasta dinners together before every game,” he said. “And that allows them to come to practice, play competitively against each other, but still get along after its over.”

Despite the perfect start, Tavares knows the Bulldogs will face some real competition in the South Coast Conference this season.

“Obviously 3-0 is exciting, but I’m trying not to get ahead of myself,” he said. “[The whole conference] will take a step forward this year, and we’re expecting tough games from Fairhaven and Apponequet.”