“GRACE IS ALWAYS BEING TESTED TO MAKE SURE HER MEDICATIONS ARE IN BALANCE. SOMETIMES SHE’S ATTACHED TO A MACHINE AND CAN’T MOVE FOR A WEEK. MAKE- A-WISH GIVES PEOPLE SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO, TO MAKE
THEM FEEL NORMAL.” -Bonnie Carroll
Julia LaSala (22) moves against Lakeshore as Lacrosse for Wishes Southern Ohio competed in the US Lacrosse Midwest Summer Splash.
at the Mason community center, a pizza store, and a tag-and-bake sale.
“It builds character and teaches them to give back,” Chris Proto, mother of team member Anna, said. “It’s another dimension besides just throwing and catching.” The community got
involved. The Southern Ohio Chapter of US Lacrosse donated money, STX donated gear, and Lax Wear donated shirts for coaches. According to Bonnie Carroll, Make-A-Wish tabs the cost of a wish at $8,000- $10,000, and this team had already exceeded that by the start of Summer Splash. Lacrosse for Wishes of Southern Ohio scored a big victory in life before its first game of the summer.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED FOR YELLOW JACKETS Top-seeded
Yellow Jackets 2019 Blue (N.Y.) stifled second-seeded Liberty (N.Y.), 7-4, in the U15 girls’ final, earning the Jackets a three-peat in the US Lacrosse National Championships.
As the tournament expanded this year to include two more age groups, they celebrated that feat at roughly the same time their 2020 Blue squad knocked off
Hollie Schleicher moves upfield in Yellow Jackets 2019 Blue’s 10-5 win over Top Guns Black in the semifinals.
laxmagazine.com
Integrity 2020 (Md.) in the U14 championship game and their 2021 Blue team defeated 3d Select National (Colo.) in the U13 final. “We talked about this tournament since early summer — the parents, the girls,” a Gatorade-soaked club director and coach Carol Rainson-Rose said. “We wanted to three-peat U15 and sweep the gold in the other divisions.”
Against a resurgent Liberty program that knocked off Yellow Jackets 2019 Gold and Integrity 2019 (Md.) to reach the championship game for the first time,
midfielder Alexa Gentile scored three goals and added an assist to pace YJ 2019 Blue’s offense in a 7-4 victory. Two of those goals game in the first half, when the Jackets got off to leads of 3-0 and 6-2 at the half. “We just wanted to stay with the draw and dump if it was working,” Gentile, who will be a freshman at St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) in the fall. She did not seem to mind the bandage around her right hamstring, which she tweaked during the quarterfinals after injuring it while playing the previous week.
Yellow Jackets 2019 Blue turned to its defense repeatedly, and several players responded all- tournament efforts. “Our defense has been relentless, but we also play with poise and discipline,” Rose said. “It’s about controlling your sticks. We did not get a lot of yellow cards.”
When the 7-4 final was in the books, there was nothing routine about the Jackets’ celebration. “It’s about representing your team,” Gentile said, “and showing that the Yellow Jackets are not going anywhere.” — P
.K. September/october 2016 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE 49
©©AJ MAST
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