Last year, Girls’ Lacrosse was 8-12 in regular-season games and 0-8 in league, placing fifth overall. This year, the girls are working hard to improve and are ready to face any competition that comes their way.
When asked about last year’s performance, Coach Bob Mezeul says, “The performance of last year could have been better but you could say this about any team. This year we are focusing on fundamental stick skills.”
Stick skills include cradling, a skill used to run with the ball, scooping, a move to pick up the ball; and, most importantly, throwing and catching. Throwing and catching are used for passing, shooting, and stealing. By improving on these key skills, the Lady Wolverines hope they can better compete against some of the toughest teams in Orange County.
This year, the girls are moving from Division I South Coast League to Division III Sea View League. Because of this, the girls are expected to be much more successful. Some of their rivals from last year were top CIF competitors, so in that level of play, it’s very difficult to showcase how good a team can truly be. The top seed in the Wolverines division last year was the San Clemente Tritons. That team went undefeated in league and went on to the CIF-SS Division I quarterfinals. The second seed, the San Juan Hills Stallions, were 6-2, only losing to San Clemente. The Stallions competed in CIF-SS Division II and were the runner-ups, losing 4-5 to JSerra.
Varsity player Mia Honda says, “At first, it’s tough knowing the team isn’t competitive enough to play some of the top teams, but after a while, it gets pretty exciting knowing that we could potentially win a lot more games.”
The Lady Wolverines will face the Dana Hills Dolphins, Mission Viejo Diablos, and the Capo Valley Cougars in the Sea View League. They will have some really good games based on last year’s performance. When the Wolverines played the Dolphins last year, they beat them 17-3. The Wolverines scored 11 goals in the first half and six in the second. Against the Diablos, the Wolverines scored seven points in the first half and five points in the second, making the final 12-2. When Aliso faced the Cougars, the Wolverines scored 16 goals in total, 11 in the first half and five in the second.
When asked about the toughest competition, Coach Mezeul says, “Trabuco Hills and Laguna Beach are two teams where we hope to avenge some previous year’s losses.”
These two games are both non-league matches, so if Aliso gets a win it will give them a lot of confidence going into league.
The Wolverines had a tough loss against the Trabuco Hills Mustangs. They lost 14-3, but most of the Mustangs’ goals were in the first half. The game against the Laguna Beach Breakers ended with a score of 3-7, but this year, the Wolverines are confident they can flip this score.
The first game of the Aliso Niguel Girls Lacrosse team is on Feb. 17 against the Portola Bulldogs in the Aliso Den.
