Girls’ lacrosse has officially started and head coach George Dick and assistant coach Laura King are excited for the start of the season. Returning Captains and Seniors Betsy Hurtado, Carli Sukonik and Carolyn Flannery, lead the girls on and off the field. Other Seniors Megan Rubenstein, Laura Walzer and Mackenzie Morgan are pumped as well. Last year, these girls finished their season with a run at playoffs that ended in them losing in their second round. The year before that the girls wormed their way into playoffs as well. This year their goal is to win playoffs and show the Central League who is boss!
Without the loss of any seniors, the girls are more than psyched to continue improving with one another. One sophomore commented, “Since we did not lose any seniors we are supposed to be good this year because it’s a continuation of last year.” The freshmen class is full with recruits for varsity. Freshmen Bailey Ebby, Sabrina Tabasso, Katie Melvin, Hilary Lemonick, Kat Pisani, and Jess Herman are girls that you should keep an eye on.
Three years ago Harriton made the transition from the Del-Val League to the Central League. When asked what the transition has been like, Dick replied, “The difference is night and day. The Del-Val only had 4 teams including us and their lacrosse programs included many inexperienced players. The Central League has 12 teams and every team has good players and most teams are very good. Last year 7 of the 12 teams made the district playoffs and the state champion Radnor and runners up Springfield both were in the league.” The transition has been a progress that Dick feels takes more than one or two seasons for the team to adjust. With the transition period being over Dick’s goals for the girls are “to be competitive in every game that we play.” He hopes that this is the year for the girls and that they will be fully committed and there this season.
Through practice and commitment the girls have overcome the initial obstacles that all the Harriton teams seemed to have faced when entering the league. These obstacles were smaller teams, nerves, lacking in commitment, and greater competition. Add in the fact that the girls had to be bussed over to Penn Valley for the last two years after school every day carrying the med kit and cooler so they could conduct two and a half hour practices. Following practice, they would jump back on the bus and head back to school, from there heading home. They had to endure all of this for more than two seasons due to the rebuilding of the high school. But with all of these obstacles, the girls have seemed to hold their own. Don’t agree? Then how could the girls make both years of playoffs?
Their work-outs and routines consist of warms up, stretches, offensive and defensive drills, shuttles, star drills, 3 on 2, the weave, ball handling, cutting, runs, and learning new drills. Clinics are run in the offseason and attendance at practice has improved leading to the girls getting higher results for their efforts.
Hopefully the girls can continue being a dominating force and maybe even take home the Central League title this year!