Sports
Lacrosse Falls to Cherokee in First Game of Pre-Season
The Cherokee Chiefs win convincingly, while Calderone leads Panthers with just three goals.
Few things are incredibly obvious while watching a team’s first scrimmage of the season.
Usually, during the first practice game, teams are still getting used to playing with each other—let alone against players from other schools.
On Monday, though, in Collingswood’s first scrimmage of the lacrosse season at Cherokee High School, one thing was easily determined at first glance—in spite of the 12-5 loss suffered at the hands of Cherokee's Chiefs, this year, the Panthers lacrosse team is already far more comfortable on the field than last season.
Find out what's happening in Collingswoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
There are plenty of explanations for their on-field ease this season. The most noticeable is that most girls on the field have taken to wearing navy jerseys together, as parts of other teams. Secondly, it's apparent that this year, Panthers now find themselves in a division that's lacking high the competition level they saw last season.
“If you know anything about our team from last year, you know that most of the teams we were going up against were Group 4 schools,” said senior attack and midfielder Jordan Calderone. “We’re back in our regular division now, and finally back with schools we can actually compete against. We have goals now that we can actually reach.”
Find out what's happening in Collingswoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Calderone, who is also serving the 2011 season as a Panthers captain, led the charge for the team—with three of the team’s five total goals Monday.
Midfielders, junior Krystal Valiani and sophomore Ellie O’Neill, contributed the rest, recording one-a-piece during the Panther's first pre-season game.
“We knew, coming in, that Cherokee was pretty strong,” said Calderone. “I think we were pretty timid to begin with, but as the game went on, we started to get more comfortable.”
While Calderone’s co-captain, senior center Beth LaBar, did not contribute a goal, she is looking forward to what lies ahead this season.
“We lost a lot of our good players from last season,” said LaBar. “We still have a lot to work on as a team if we want to succeed this year.”
The girls lacrosse team will have their next scrimmage this Wednesday, when they are visited by Pennsauken High School. The scrimmage is scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m.
