State College girls lacrosse building program by ‘sticking together as a family’
Tara Hohenshelt has a vision for the State College’s girls lacrosse program.
The head coach’s goal is for her team to be one of the strongest, most cohesive in the state. Her team practices with high intensity, they show up early to games and practice with a deep love for one another, giving out hugs and high-fives all around.
It’s a refreshing feeling for Hohenshelt to be around players that lift each other up from the sidelines through the good and the bad.
“We’ve worked hard at creating the culture of that,” Hohenshelt said. “It’s not something that just kind of happens. That’s something where we’ve been sticking together as a family and bonding. It takes just as much practice and consistency as it does to input the Xs and Os.”
The players feel like members of one large family. That’s especially true for senior Leah Moyer, who has been to a multitude of team dinners, team dance parties and groups that grab food before games. It’s been that way since her freshman year and she wants to carry on the tradition that Hohenshelt and her teammates before her instilled.
“I think it’s really important for us to grow as a team together and communicate off the field and on the field because if our relationship’s better off the field, then it’ll work better on the field,” Moyer said. “I think we’ve really made an importance about that and we strive to make our relationships off the field better and grow those, so we can work better as a team. I think we’ve had a standard of doing that.”
Building a team
Strong defensive play begins with effort on the entire back end to communicate. It goes from each defender, to the goalie — relaying messages back and forth through the grapevine. Each of them call out attackers who cut through the defense, with or without the ball. Then, if an attacker receives the ball near the net, the defense converges to protect the net and aid its goalie.
In State College’s case, their last line of defense is senior goalie Grace Jones. She understands the importance of communicating with her teammates because it will ultimately make her job easier. It has allowed her to build a deep bond with the back line and she understands that she needs them to be successful.
“I think everyone on the team has my back and I have their back,” Jones said. “It’s 100% a team effort. I wouldn’t be able to do anything that I do without any of my teammates. They either keep the ball on that side (offensively) or my defense protects me on my end.”
Sydney O’Donnell is an offensive dynamo. The sophomore had four goals and four draw controls in Thursday’s 18-2 thumping of Chambersburg, five goals, three assists and two draw controls in Tuesday’s 20-9 victory over Trinity and four goals, one assist and four draw controls in an 18-10 victory over Strath Haven on April 9.
Every time she scoops the ball up with the stick, magic can happen. Behind the back passes, deep passes from the other side of the field, pump fakes and a number of other plays, she reminds onlookers of a former Los Angeles Lakers point guard that dazzled fans as well. Despite all of her personal success, she just wants to get her teammates involved to win games.
“I’m just really looking forward to focusing on the team — us together as one,” O’Donnell said. “I feel like this year, making other people look better (is my goal). It’s just to make everyone have fun and then, everyone looks good individually.”
To build a program brick-by-brick, one must be able to insert their new players into the lineup seamlessly. One of the newcomers making an impact on the Lady Little Lions team is junior Maddie Rottkamp. Moving to the area from Medford, New Jersey, she was welcomed to the team with open arms.
She quickly made friends with others on the team, telling jokes and discussing the greatness of South Jersey cheesesteaks. The daughter of a Penn State professor, Rottkamp displays her intellect on the field with sharp passes and an ability to be a prolific scorer. She was voted the Centre Daily Times Athlete of the Week for March 28-April 2 for her four-goal performance in a 17-1 victory over Mechanicsburg on March 31.
The support that she’s felt from the community has been inspiring to her.
“That was super exciting,” Rottkamp said of the Athlete of the Week win. “It was unexpected and I didn’t think that would happen, but that’s awesome. The love and support from this area and even from my hometown in New Jersey is great. I thought that was awesome and a great way to represent this team that’s doing so well.”
State College is now 5-2 on the season and will take on Northern York at home on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
