ARLINGTON —  The Washington Stealth Professional Box Lacrosse team welcomed 43 prospective players at their first ever try-out camp at Arlington’s Soccer First Indoor Sports arena on Saturday, Nov. 17.

The two-day camp aimed to evaluate the skills of both draft picks and free agent athletes hoping to make the team.

Stealth head coach Chris Hall has been with the club since before it made the move from San Jose, Calif., to Everett.

“Obviously we have enjoyed success in our first years in the Pacific Northwest,” he said. “Our very first year here we were able to win the championship game. It was sort of our Cinderella season, and that was a fantastic experience. Our second year we made it the championships again, so it was great to  be in the championship game in our first two years in Washington.”

Although the team started out with an impressive first few seasons in the state, last year took a different turn.

“We had an unexpectedly poor season,” said Hall. “It was like Murphy’s Law that year. Anything that could go wrong did.”

This season, the Stealth is bringing in new players and hoping to make an improvement over the last.

“This year we are looking for renewed energy,” said Hall. “We’ve got a lot of guys, great draft choices and even free agents. It’s great to see that we’ve got 43 of the best players out there.”

The try-out camp is the first of five preseason camps that will help coaches eventually choose the 23-man active and three-man practice squad roster for the 2013 National Lacrosse League season. Roughly 11 of the 43 athletes who tried out will advance to training camp on Saturday, Dec. 1, at Soccer First Indoor Sports and Sunday, Dec. 2, at Everett’s Comcast Arena.

One of the athletes hoping to advance is Washington native Drew Snider, a two-time All-American whose collegiate lacrosse career sent him to the NCAA Div. 1 Championships twice with the University of Maryland.

“I played lacrosse for four years at the University of Maryland and was named captain my senior year,” said Snider, who attended the try-out camp on Nov. 17. “I’m in the area and I wanted to play indoor lacrosse. This was actually my first box experience.”

Snider said he enjoyed the try-out camp and hopes to make it on the roster for the upcoming season.

The next camp is set for Dec. 1 at Soccer First Indoor Sports at 19805 74th Ave. NE in Arlington and is open to the public. For information on the Washington Stealth visit www.stealthlax.com.