LEHMAN TWP. – Many of the players competing in the Wyoming Valley Conference’s newest high school sport, lacrosse, have less experience in the game than athletes in other sports.
Similarly, they have less chance to make up for that with competition in the offseason.
Lake-Lehman Girls Lacrosse did what it could to make up for that Nov. 6, offering a day of games on fields at Lake-Lehman High School.
Pittston Area’s high school team and two junior high teams from the Valley Laxerz youth program, based in the Wyoming Area School District, were among those to take advantage.
“It’s still relatively new in the area, so it’s nice that Lake-Lehman has this day for everyone to get out and improve and get some games in,” said Nicole Tieso, who is preparing for her second season as the Pittston Area coach.
Tieso is on the lookout for another similar event, but the stop at Lake-Lehman might be the only offseason competition for her lacrosse team.
After losing several seniors, her young squad could use the time on the field.
“We let them try some different positions and just get some practice in together,” Tieso said. “We graduated a lot of seniors, so it’s good for the younger ones who haven’t played much lacrosse.”
Pittston Area did not have a senior among the 10 players it brought to the event, which featured at least five games for each team in a 7-on-7 format for 25 minutes with a running clock.
“They haven’t been in feeder programs because those are relatively new as well,” Tieso said.
Carl DeLuca is among those trying to fix that.
DeLuca, the head coach of the Wyoming Area girls team, was at the tournament leading two junior high teams from the Valley Laxerz lacrosse club where he coaches youth teams for both boys and girls.
“It’s growing,” DeLuca said. “We went from first year at Wyoming Area girls, we had 18. Last year, we had 26.
“We just had a sign-up last week and had 42 girls.”
DeLuca said the Valley Laxerz, which is made up primarily of Wyoming Area players, also draws players from Pittston Area, Coughlin and Wyoming Seminary.
The Valley Laxerz holds free clinics to introduce potential players to the game.
The three Greater Pittston teams were among the 23 that participated across three age groups in the event at Lake-Lehman.
