Brecksville-Broadview Heights Girls Lacrosse Team Eager To Keep Winning

"Oh, no, not again!"

That was the cry of the Brecksville-Broadview Heights girls lacrosse team with eight seconds left in the third quarter of their match when a rainstorm accompanied by lightning halted play Friday.

"We've played in rain in all but one of our matches this season," coach Scott Schneider said. "We had one cancelled because of lightning. You play in rain. You head for cover indoors when there's lightning."

Though the Bees held a 5-3 lead over Cuyahoga Valley Club, the game was washed out. It was seconds away from being three-quarters done. To be an official game, 80 percent of a match must be played.

"It's frustrating because they want to play," Schneider said. "That's probably why you heard them say, 'Not again.' But it could be worse. We've played some games when other teams couldn't because of our fine field."

The Bees have a genuine home field advantage in being able to play on the all-turf field at . Several other teams in the area seldom get on their fields that have been turned to quagmires. The Bees have fashioned a 7-3 record.

"The field helps in other ways, too," Schneider said. "We've got a team with a lot of speed. They can get out and go on our turf.

"We went to the state semifinals a year ago in the club division and I think having some success has brought out more athletes interested in playing for us. We have a full JV squad, too. Our philosophy is no cuts and we try to give everybody the opportunity to play."

The Bees graduated nine seniors from last year's 11-6 team, but have nine seniors again this year on the varsity, including Kaitlyn Nemunaitis. She's leading the team in scoring for the third year in a row and had six goals in a 19-13 win over Strongsville in April. The team enjoys balanced scoring, however. They recently got goals from 11 different players in an 11-4 win over Andrews Osborne Academy.

Senior captain Nikki Costa provides leadership in the middle of the field and senior defender Erika Stunek is "a big key to our defense," Schneider said, who added that junior Nicole Fantozzi has been doing a great job as goalie.

Two midfield players who have been keys to getting the Bees' offense going are sophomore Julie Harris and junior Amy Melena.

"They're great at gathering up ground balls," Schneider said.

Getting grounders is important to keeping the ball. The maneuver is particularly important in the girls game, which differs from boys lacrosse.

"First off, there's no contact," Schneider said. "You play with 12 field players as opposed to 10 boys and the offsides rules are different. A real big difference is in the baskets on your stick. The girls' sticks have a much flatter surface, which actually makes it much more difficult to catch the ball and control it. So you cradle the ball differently than in the boys' game and scooping up grounders really is a premium."

The girls' program is in its third full season and fourth overall. Though still designated as a club sport because it does not get funds from the school, Schneider explains that players still earn letters and are part of spring sports banquets.

"It's a great team sport," Schneider said. "You've got girls with backgrounds in track, soccer, field hockey and basketball. You have to be an athlete to compete and we're proud of the way the program has grown."

BEES 2011 GIRLS LACROSSE ROSTER

NO. PLAYER             POS. GRADE

  0     Nicole Fantozzi          G        Jr.

  1     Samantha Savvas      M       Sr.

  2     Ayushi Gupta              A        Jr.

  3     Julianne Jirousek      A       So.

  4     Julianna Komichak  D        Sr.

  8     Brittney Esther           D       Jr.

  9     Christine Wright       AW    Sr.

10     Julie Harris                 DW   So.

12     Kaitlyn Nemunaitis   A      Sr.

15     Jackie Cole               AW/C Sr.

18     Julie Biscotti               D        Jr.

21     Anna Eastman      DW/D   So.

22     Nikki Costa               AW      Sr.

23     Carly Klonowski      AW     So.

27     Mary Cholewea           D       Sr.

28     Amy Melena              DW      Jr.

30     Cristel Baterina        AW     Jr.

34     Erika Stunek                D       Sr.

37     Megan Rimac               A       Jr.

38     Melia Kovach              C        Jr.

41     Lauren Vajda               A        Jr.

44     Courtney Augustine  A      So.

45     Samantha Nowak        D      Sr.

48     Rachel Wolfe              AW     Jr.

Coach: Scott Schneider