Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

This is the first year of the girl’s lacrosse program at Wyoming Area. Left to right: junior, Claudia Waltz; senior, Carrie Pozaic; junior, Emily Ambruso; junior, Daniela Vigueras.

Girls lacrosse is at Pittston Area for the first time. Senior members of the team show off their game faces. Front row: Rebecca Linko. Back row, left to right: Claudia Shandra, Abigail Rodriguez, Nicole Walters, Sydney Ralston, Elaina Menichelli.

The Wyoming Valley Conference girls lacrosse league continues to grow and does not appear ready to stop.

After going from seven to eight teams between its first two seasons, the WVC has expanded to 10 teams and a two-division set-up for the first time in 2015.

The season is scheduled to open today. While Wyoming Area and Scranton Prep will go through their first season as conference members, Hazleton Area will use a non-league schedule to prepare for the likelihood of officially joining next season.

Although long-established programs Wyoming Seminary and Delaware Valley, which played each other for the WVC and District 2 titles last season, continue to be the measuring stick, other programs are making promising strides.

Coughlin, in its fourth season, could be the top threat to Wyoming Seminary in Division 1. Crestwood reached the .500 mark in 2014, its second season. Scranton Prep won its first district playoff game as a rookie program before ever playing its first conference game.

As the sport continues to grow, so does the spirit of cooperation between programs as they work to make a stronger league.

“The referees, the other coaches, everyone is so willing to help new teams and new coaches,” said Crestwood’s Russ Kile, who has guided the Comets since his daughter Morgan Kile started the team for her senior project. “It’s been a real nice experience.”

While Kile runs a team that does not include his daughter – now an Ohio State field hockey player – for the first time, half of the other area programs are now newer than the Comets.

The area’s rich field hockey history has given coaches a wealth of talent to pull into the burgeoning spring sport.

Players from Crestwood’s consecutive state finalist field hockey teams have had a major role in developing the lacrosse program. The same could hold true for the Wyoming Area and Hazleton Area programs.

The Warriors and Cougars started the season with just five and two girls, respectively, who had ever played the sport. Those few Wyoming Area girls got started in the Back Mountain Youth Lacrosse Association while the two at Hazleton Area got their start in the Mountaintop Area Lacrosse Association.

“We’re starting at ground zero, teaching the girls all the basics, all the rules and regulations,” Wyoming Area coach Carl DeLuca said.

The Warriors are starting with 21 players, 15 of them freshmen, who will face the challenge of a varsity schedule.

“They’re athletic girls, they play other sports, some basketball, volleyball and field hockey,” DeLuca said.

Junior Claudio Waltz has three years of youth lacrosse in her background. Jordan Kelly, another junior, played one year of youth lacrosse and has varsity athletic experience as a basketball point guard.

Hazleton Area has 30 girls, including two goalies, allowing it to play both varsity and junior varsity games to prepare for next season.

Sophomore Kelsey Hudock and freshman Meleah Hoats have played lacrosse before and more than half the roster has field hockey experience, including junior Kara Sanford, an all-star in the fall.

Sanford was out with an injury when Hazleton Area made its debut in the sport Friday with a 25-0 loss against Coughlin.

The harsh winter has kept the team inside working on skills only, adding to the challenge.

“It was the first time the girls saw grass,” Hazleton Area coach Bethanne Hudock said of the opener. “What a year to start.”

Currently, the Cougars program is a pay-to-play sport. Although a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association-sanctioned school team, Hazleton Area is not funded by the school district.

While the newcomers make progress at various speeds, some well-established scorers could impact title races.

Coughlin junior Brigid Wood, who has already committed to play field hockey at Boston College, had five goals in the opener against Hazleton Area, including the 100th of her career.

Coughlin’s offense and a veteran defense at Wyoming Seminary could be prominent in the Division 1 title race. Coughlin and Delaware Valley are the only teams to have a win over Wyoming Seminary in the WVC’s first two years.