Back-to-back wins improve mood for Wooster girls lax team
It hasn’t been an easy start to the 2011 campaign for the Wooster High girls lacrosse team. Five losses isn’t the way anyone wants to open a campaign, but Generals’ coach Holly Redmond is hoping the corner has been turned.
The Generals dropped a 12-1 decision to Hawken April 14 to fall to 0-5. Instead of giving up, the next day may have turned the season around. Competing in the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Earth Week Tournament, the Generals pinned an 11-9 loss on the hosts and then beat Toledo Sylvania 9-5.
“Those were much-needed wins,” said Redmond. “We played five games in six days. Originally we only wanted to play two games in two days (in the tournament), but the way it was scheduled … we didn’t want to turn down the opportunity to play.”
The frustration from Friday night manifested itself in several ways, Redmond noted. The game was moved from Maurer Field to Follis Field, which started a string of events that culminated with the loss to Hawken.
“It started with Mother Nature and boys tearing up (a rain-soaked) Maurer Field,” said Redmond. “We also had an interesting official, who tried to throw out a dozen of our sticks because he said they were illegal, so we were restringing them on the sideline. The field wasn’t ready, the girls were frazzled – I don’t know that we were ready to play Hawken.
“Those were good wins, solid wins. I was happy with our performance. It’s been hard – we only had two practices this week. We’ve really been pushing transition offensively and transition into midfield and into defense more. We need to be more of a threat on offense. When we have the ball, we need to shoot more. I told them, We can’t score if we don’t shoot.”
The key to the wins may have been the balance shown over the weekend, but more so the Generals’ willingness to take advantage of their scoring opportunities.
“We’ve had more balanced scoring, which has been good for our morale and gaining more confidence in ourselves,” said Redmond. “(The wins) gave us some momentum. It showed the girls they are capable of winning and pulling out good wins and that we can play how we practice and apply what we learn in practice.”
Allison Canfield is the team’s leading scorer with 24 goals. She had a single-game high of six against Brecksville, but she also had five-goal games against Mentor, Western Reserve Academy and Toledo. However, she has been carrying too much of the load until recently.
“She has been tearing it up, but Grace MacMillan has been stepping it up,” said Redmond. “She had the only goal against Hawken. We kind of hit that wall where we said if Canfield has the ball, we just sat and watched and didn’t help her. That’s what we drilled this week in practice.”
After the loss to Walsh, Redmond sat the team down to discuss the offensive issues.
“In the Walsh (Jesuit) game, we only had three girls take shots out of 15 that crossed over to the offensive end,” said Redmond. “That’s a problem with only three people shooting. That was something we tried to drill -- we need them all to be able to score and not watch each other struggle. I said, OK, how many of you crossed over to the offensive end? and 15 hands go up. How many of you got shots? and almost every hand goes down. That’s a problem.”
Redmond is also looking for the team’s defense to continue to improve.
“Our defense is stacked with solid defenders,” she said. “We have a good defense and we need to continue to play well after the weekend. We have two underclassmen, a freshman and a sophomore, who are solid, and two juniors and a senior who make up our core group. Emma Fiorita is a senior and Kayla Villegas and Tia Esbenshade are our juniors. Bailey Gilmore is a sophomore and Carly McCormack is our freshman on defense.
“We clicked as a team this weekend. We were passing the ball. There were some who had been reluctant to pass to some girls because they drop the ball, but I told them they would never gain confidence if we never pass to them. We clicked and learned to trust each other and gain a little confidence in ourselves and our teammates.”
The Generals dropped a 12-1 decision to Hawken April 14 to fall to 0-5. Instead of giving up, the next day may have turned the season around. Competing in the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Earth Week Tournament, the Generals pinned an 11-9 loss on the hosts and then beat Toledo Sylvania 9-5.
“Those were much-needed wins,” said Redmond. “We played five games in six days. Originally we only wanted to play two games in two days (in the tournament), but the way it was scheduled … we didn’t want to turn down the opportunity to play.”
The frustration from Friday night manifested itself in several ways, Redmond noted. The game was moved from Maurer Field to Follis Field, which started a string of events that culminated with the loss to Hawken.
“It started with Mother Nature and boys tearing up (a rain-soaked) Maurer Field,” said Redmond. “We also had an interesting official, who tried to throw out a dozen of our sticks because he said they were illegal, so we were restringing them on the sideline. The field wasn’t ready, the girls were frazzled – I don’t know that we were ready to play Hawken.
“Those were good wins, solid wins. I was happy with our performance. It’s been hard – we only had two practices this week. We’ve really been pushing transition offensively and transition into midfield and into defense more. We need to be more of a threat on offense. When we have the ball, we need to shoot more. I told them, We can’t score if we don’t shoot.”
The key to the wins may have been the balance shown over the weekend, but more so the Generals’ willingness to take advantage of their scoring opportunities.
“We’ve had more balanced scoring, which has been good for our morale and gaining more confidence in ourselves,” said Redmond. “(The wins) gave us some momentum. It showed the girls they are capable of winning and pulling out good wins and that we can play how we practice and apply what we learn in practice.”
Allison Canfield is the team’s leading scorer with 24 goals. She had a single-game high of six against Brecksville, but she also had five-goal games against Mentor, Western Reserve Academy and Toledo. However, she has been carrying too much of the load until recently.
“She has been tearing it up, but Grace MacMillan has been stepping it up,” said Redmond. “She had the only goal against Hawken. We kind of hit that wall where we said if Canfield has the ball, we just sat and watched and didn’t help her. That’s what we drilled this week in practice.”
After the loss to Walsh, Redmond sat the team down to discuss the offensive issues.
“In the Walsh (Jesuit) game, we only had three girls take shots out of 15 that crossed over to the offensive end,” said Redmond. “That’s a problem with only three people shooting. That was something we tried to drill -- we need them all to be able to score and not watch each other struggle. I said, OK, how many of you crossed over to the offensive end? and 15 hands go up. How many of you got shots? and almost every hand goes down. That’s a problem.”
Redmond is also looking for the team’s defense to continue to improve.
“Our defense is stacked with solid defenders,” she said. “We have a good defense and we need to continue to play well after the weekend. We have two underclassmen, a freshman and a sophomore, who are solid, and two juniors and a senior who make up our core group. Emma Fiorita is a senior and Kayla Villegas and Tia Esbenshade are our juniors. Bailey Gilmore is a sophomore and Carly McCormack is our freshman on defense.
“We clicked as a team this weekend. We were passing the ball. There were some who had been reluctant to pass to some girls because they drop the ball, but I told them they would never gain confidence if we never pass to them. We clicked and learned to trust each other and gain a little confidence in ourselves and our teammates.”
Published: April 20, 2011
