OCEAN CITY — With a group of young players, the Mainland Regional High School girls lacrosse team is looking toward the future “with a lot of great foundation.”
The girls are 5-5 this season with a squad that features some upper class players as leaders, but it is filled out with freshmen and sophomores.
“We do have a pretty young team,” head coach Kelly Klever said Friday after a 14-3 loss to Cape-Atlantic League-leading Ocean City. “We have an athletic freshman class full of competitors.”
“We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores out there (on the field),” Klever said. “We probably have more than half starting. They show up every day willing to learn and ready to work. That’s why they earned that spot out there.”
Team stalwarts include senior defender Lynn McLaughlin, “a natural born leader,” and senior Lani Ford, who “has done a nice job of commanding the attack and leading the way for those athletic freshmen.”
With such a young team, the goal for this season is “just to compete. To show up and compete every day,” Klever said. “We always say, ‘play mentally tough with a whole lot of heart.’ So that’s our goal. Step on the field every single day and leave it all out there.”
Junior Ava Sheeran leads the team in goals with 26 followed by Ford with 20, freshman Sophia Blanco with 16, senior Sienna Gizelbach with 15 and freshman Lauren LaMonaca with 12. Ford leads in assists with 9; Sheeran has 8.
Klever notes Sheeran is technically a middie “but she can play any position on the field and Blanco has done a nice job as a freshman.”
Senior goalie Kylie Kurtz has made 57 saves so far this season. Coach Klever said Kurtz, a four-year starter, will be heading to The College of New Jersey to play next year. She is close to her 500th career save. “That’s a huge milestone for her,” Klever said.
In addition to McLaughlin, defensive leaders for the Mustangs include Caroline Sher, a junior, Jillian Schallus, a senior, sophomore Madison Meade and freshman Reilly Nagle.
Following a game Tuesday against Middle Township after the Sentinel sports section went to press, the girls are on the road for four straight against Lenape Thursday, Millville Friday, Woodstown May 14 and Notre Dame May 17.
They wrap their regular season at home at 4 p.m. May 20 versus West Deptford.
– PHOTOS and STORY by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff