Newark girls lacrosse beginning to see end of rainbow
NEWARK — It was the reward the Newark girls lacrosse program has been striving for three seasons in the making.
Newark’s 18-10 victory against Westerville South last Monday was the program’s first at home. The players stopped at White Field to ring the victory bell following their first victory at Buckeye Valley in mid-April, and seniors Addi Taylert, Morgan Woodruff and Emma Thum rang it one more time earlier this week.
“That was huge, especially on their senior night,” sophomore midfielder Peyton Sherman said.
Newark has experienced growing pains since its start in 2022 under coach Katie Keefe. The Wildcats (2-12) suffered another Thursday in a 17-2 loss to visiting Granville (5-11).
Keefe, however, has had remarkable retention with her players in the program. They have kept coming back during the last three seasons because they believe more nights like Monday will be ahead.
“It shows a lot of hope,” Sherman said. “We come into practice every day and sometimes there is a little bit of doubt. It gave us some motivation, and it’s definitely been nice to win.”
It has been a different experience for Granville under new coach Haleigh McPhillips. The Blue Aces already hit hard by graduation have been bitten by the injury bug.
Standout senior Bella Rockwell was among those sitting out Thursday, but the Blue Aces have begun to persevere. Thursday’s win followed a 10-8 victory at Hilliard Darby on Tuesday. It has been a trial by fire for several new to the varsity lineup playing against a schedule that still features many of the perennial powers in central Ohio.
“During practice, we have really worked on our individual positions, and we have definitely gotten better working as a team,” sophomore Ellie Brower said. “A big thing is really helping the JV team grow and making sure they are getting enough time to really fill in our spots.”
Newark is aspiring to be the program Granville has been. The Blue Aces have went toe to toe with some of the state’s best teams that reside in the central Ohio hotbed.
The Wildcats know success is going to take time, but they already are seeing plenty. They have received high marks for their improvement from opposing coaches and players, scoring six goals or more six times this season after doing it just a few times over the previous two seasons.
“Two wins might not be much, but our program is going to definitely continue to grow," junior midfielder Madi Johnson said. "We will get more wins.”
Nine players scored for Granville on Thursday. Junior Gwyn Smith led the way with four, senior Olivia Graves added three, twin sister Gabrielle Graves and freshman Mabel Messner two apiece and seniors Zoe Gravitt and Lucy Walters, juniors Brecken Kennedy and Edi Fisher and Brower one each.
The sideline erupted when Walters slipped into the center of the defense, caught a lob pass from behind the net from Gravitt and quickly shot it into the cage.
“We have had some really hard games, but with every hard game that we’ve had, we learn from our mistakes,” Walters said. “We really hunker down in practice, and then we do it on the field.”
Junior Alyvea Roseberry and sophomore Emily Tracey scored for Newark on Thursday.
Roseberry, who is a co-captain with Taylert and Johnson, has been the all-around standout in the midfield. Junior Ava Layne has helped provide scoring punch in the attack, and junior volleyball standout Ruth Anderson has added to the defense headed by Woodruff in front of junior goalkeeper Gabrielle Greene.
“Watching our program move forward from a club to an actual varsity sport, just in the last year it’s crazy to see the growth that we’ve had,” Johnson said. “We are getting to the same level now as some of these other schools.”
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark girls lacrosse beginning to see end of rainbow
