The Lady Lions are off to an excellent start for the upcoming lacrosse season! The season officially takes off on February 20th, and the team has been participating in various activities to prepare for the games to start. The girls have been attending after-school team conditioning twice a week, which has been an excellent way for us to rebuild our strength. The team has also especially focused on building their endurance by organizing a daily team run up the hill to NDES and back, which they have found to be quite helpful in getting them back in running shape and helping the team bond. Lastly, there have been weekly open gyms every Saturday that began in January and will take place until the last Saturday before the season. These “mini practices” are senior-led and only 1-2 hours long. Anyone is welcome, especially new players looking to learn the basics of the sport before entering the official season!

This year, the team is led by head varsity coach Alex Manfroni, NDCL class of 2016, and working next to her will be assistant varsity coach Izzy Buzogany, who also graduated from NDCL with the class of 2018! The junior varsity team will be led by head coach Clare Abood, who graduated with coach Izzy in 2018 and assisted by our very own Mrs. Gooding, who is also the goalie specialist coach, and another NDCL graduate with the class of 2003. The coaches have been pushing the girls to begin training and working hard in the preseason, so they will be ready to jump straight into practicing and come out strong in their first scrimmage versus Chardon.

Many girls have expressed to me just how excited they are for this season; they hope to see the program begin to bloom this year, especially the seniors indeed. Gracie Rowan, one of our preseason captains, said how ecstatic she is to lead the team alongside the other seniors, Julia Jaworski, Madison Thomas, Ashley Greig (me!), and Emily Foley, our other preseason captains. As seniors, we want to impact the team and leave them with a newfound passion for the sport and the program at NDCL. Gracie told me that her “number one goal this season is to beat Lake” and that she “can’t wait to become closer with the younger girls and build beneficial relationships on and off the field.” Keep an eye out for the girls taking the field this March!