National High School Girls' Notebook:
Idaho Girl Fights to Play Boys' Lax
by Jeff Seidel | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
Jeff Seidel covers high school lacrosse for Lacrosse
Magazine Online. Check back each week for his regional breakdown of
what's what around nation. Submit notes or story ideas to jseid1234@aol.com.
WEST
Sara Maras wasn’t trying to stir up any trouble. She just had a simple request.
Maras wanted to go out for the boys' lacrosse team at Borah High School in Idaho. Coach Erik Jones told her to come out to practice and see what happened. She did fine against the boys, playing defense, and really enjoyed the game.
But the off-the-field stuff made life tougher. Jones petitioned the Treasure Valley Lacrosse League to let Maras play, saying that his school’s constitution prevents discrimination. The state high school athletic association in Idaho says that if a sport is available for girls and boys, and you’re a girl, you must play the girls' sport.
The league said Maras couldn’t play with the boys, but Jones still let her play with the JV, and the league said it would suspend him for a game each time she played with the boys. However, that JV team didn’t have enough players and meshed into one bigger varsity team. Maras then played with the varsity.
Now everything might be in the hands of the lawyers, and no one knows for sure where it’s going to end up.
“If they want me, I’d love to come back and play,” Maras said. “I love lacrosse so much. I’d love to play all through high school. I just don’t know how it will all work out.”
Maras and Jones both said the boys were great in accepting her, in making what could have been a tough situation that much easier.
“I think they’re an awesome team, and they’re respectful and super-nice,” she said. “They did really well in handling all this.”
Maras never even played lacrosse before her freshman year, where she learned about it at a different school. She just liked the boys' game more and wanted to play it.
For now, she’s working on improving her defense in the boys' game. She plans to find some lacrosse camps that will let her play that way. Maras said she might have found one in Utah.
In the end, it’s been an interesting ride. Some people have said some dumb things, Maras said, but she just shrugs them off. All she wanted was to play lacrosse.
“There have been a few comments, but I just ignore them,” she said. “It’s my decision.”
MID-ATLANTIC
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association is getting ready for a state tournament for the second time – and the organization hopes for more success.
Last year, the PIAA held its first state championship competition, and Radnor won the title game at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey. Pennsylvania’s 12 districts (geographic) will begin their playoffs in the coming days, leading to another state tournament.
The district competition will be finished by May 29 – each one makes it own schedules – and the state playoffs begin June 1.
There are going to be 16 teams in the state competition with the quarterfinals set for June 5 followed by the semifinals three days later.
The championship round is set for Hersheypark Stadium again on Saturday, June 12. There’s just one division in the tournament.
“We just hope that it continues to grow in popularity,” said PIAA assistant executive director Melissa Mertz. “It’s definitely a sport that’s been taking off.”
MIDWEST
Indiana might be best known for basketball, and the Park Tudor lacrosse team is scoring goals like a team on the court in recent games.
Park Tudor has won four games this month, posting 61 goals during that stretch. That’s an average of just over 15 goals per game.
The team’s most recent victory was a 13-2 rout of Center Grove Thursday. Kendall Brunner helped with three goals and one assist. Before that was a 13-9 victory over Brebeuf Jesuit on Tuesday. Samantha Johansen’s four goals were crucial to the win, according to the Indianapolis Star.
Last week saw Park Tudor rout North Central, 23-11. Ellen Grein got six goals to spark the victory.
Park Tudor started the month with a 12-8 victory over Cathedra.
NORTHEAST
Belchertown made a little history with its 13-10 victory over Cathedral in a Masschusetts contest earlier this week, according to Masslive.com.
The win improved Belchertown to 1-11 on the season and was the program’s first victory ever.
Several players scored for the winners, including Stefanie Dufresne (three goals, three assists), Emma Norden (two goals, two assists) and Kayla Panek (two goals, two assists). Goalie Natalie Caney helped with 10 saves.
Meg Campbell and Ellen Strycharz both had four goals and four assists for Cathedral in the loss.
SOUTH
Hoggard and Charlotte Catholic are scheduled to play Saturday at 1 p.m. in Cary, N.C. for the North Carolina state title game.
Hoggard had quite a run to even make the finals. The Vikings got two overtime wins, including a 10-9 victory in the extra period over East Chapel Hill to earn a spot in the finals, according to Star News Online.
That came after 16-15 win over Green Hope in double overtime last Friday. Before that, Hoggard needed a 12-11 decision over Apex to move on.
For Charlotte Catholic, it was a 16-7 victory over Western Guilford that earned the school a spot in the final game. The Cougars come to the finals with a 17-2 record – losing to two of the teams Hoggard beat this week.
