Girls Lacrosse Looks Forward to Season Opener

Katherine Frega had a re-introduction to a sport she loves over the summer.

The Westfield High School junior sampled just how special lacrosse is to Native American players in Syracuse.

"I learned the sport over again,'' said Frega, whose team opens the new season at home April 1 against Governor Livingston at 4:30. "The kids from an Indian reservation have a lot more passion for it. I love it. I played with them and I now have a whole new vision of the game.''

The Blue Devils finished 8-8 last year, but Frega is hoping the team will be much better this year. The team will have to find some way to replace graduated star and midfielder Liz McCarthy (The College of New Jersey), who scored 58 goals last season and had 100 for her career. She led the team with 80 points and was second in ground balls with 33 ground balls.

"We're going to have to spread (the offense) it around this year,'' said Frega. "It won't be just one person.''

Senior middie Val Hoffman had 24 goals, 17 assists and 32 ground balls. Frega flicked home 22 goals and assisted on 11 others. She had 26 ground balls. Junior attack Jenna Sharkey (seven goals, seven assists) and junior Ally Rose (9 goals and five assists) also return with sophomore keeper Sara Chandler. Senior middie Anna Powell is also back after scoring 13 goals, six assists and picking up 30 ground balls. Junior middie Caroline Bertoni had two assists last season.

Chandler saw 359 shots last year, made 173 saves and had a 48 percent save ratio.

"She's gotten a lot better,'' Frega said.

Juniors Taylor Anderson and Emma Patridge had 32 and 21 ground balls, respectively, last year and senior Monica D'Amico had six goals. Senior Kate Brennan had 10 groundballs, 18 assists and six goals for 24 points.

Head coach Brendan Hickey, entering his second year, has told the girls he wants to change to a more-up tempo game, Frega said.

"We're going to continually try to get the ball in the net instead of slowing it down,'' she said.

Most of the team kept busy with their game in the off-season.

"We practiced during the summer,'' said Frega, who also plays field hockey. "Since we're using a new offense we wanted to make sure our stick skills were honed and that we can all catch and throw, so this year we can focus on our offense. It's going to be a lot faster this year.''

The Blue Devils did qualify for the state tournament last year, beating Old Bridge 11-8 before losing 15-4 to Bridgewater-Raritan in the second round. The team beat Governor Livingston 10-8 last May 11 to qualify for the tournament. The Blue Devils lost to the Highlanders 13-9 earlier in the season.

"They are a great rival,'' Frega said. "It'll be a good game to start with.''

The team was 7-8 two seasons ago, 7-9 in 2007 and 12-4 in 2006.