Making Championships Happen
By Nancy Harley
On Friday, May 9, the atmosphere at Grand Canyon University was electric. The Pinnacle Girls Lacrosse Club varsity team was returning to the Arizona Girls Lacrosse Association state championship game as reigning champions and three time state title holders (2009, 2012, 2013). The 2014 season had finally come down to this one game…. and the one big question that had been plaguing them all year: could the girls of PGLC varsity do it again?
Before the season even began, there were those who doubted that they could. The question the coaches constantly heard: “This will be a rebuilding year for you, right?” Wrong. Although only 10 of the 21 varsity players were returning to the team, these 10 girls, along with 11 new players, clearly still had what it took.
The varsity girls pulled off a three-peat, defeating Horizon 11-8. Leading the team defensively was three year varsity veteran goalie, junior Aly Smith, who had an astounding 30 saves with 47 shots taken against her. Helping her out on the defensive side of play were senior Jenna Brady and sophomore Loren Halili, who led the team in caused turnovers and ground balls. The offense was led by returning varsity midfielders Nicole Cosmany, Katarina Johnston, Hannah Kolesar, Ronni Winter, and Madison Wood.
The JV team played in the JV championship game for the second year in a row, finishing the season as the state runner-up, losing to a very skilled opponent in the Chaparral JV team. The JV team also had an incredible season, a season that started with only four returning JV players and thirteen players who had never even picked up a lacrosse stick prior to the start of fall practices and ended with a run for the state title.
So who is the Pinnacle Girls Lacrosse Club? It is a group that started with a vision—a vision essentially formed by one parent to make the game accessible to his daughter. And it has snowballed into a vision and a reality that no one could have perhaps anticipated. Nine years, one non-profit corporation, hundreds of girls and four varsity state championships later, Pinnacle Girls Lacrosse Club (PGLC) has become a force to be reckoned with and is arguably the premiere high school girls lacrosse club in the state of Arizona.
Led this season for the first year by Head Coach Jennifer McDonald, a former PGLC and Highpoint University player and last year’s JV coach, the girls worked hard to make the team gel as a new group. Varsity assistant coaches, who helped maintain the coaching consistency from last year to this year, include Dave Podolak, in his sixth year on the coaching staff, and Greg Ritter, a ninth year coach who works with the goalies and provides pep talks that continually rally the girls to victory; and Reggie Younger, a certified Sport Psychology Consultant who works with the team on mental focus.
Playing other lacrosse teams from around the state, the Pinnacle girls led with heart and an incredible passion for the game. They continue to be the team to beat.
PGLC 2014 graduates include attack players Madi Roble and Emily Bonner and defensive players Jenna Brady and Annie Frey. Brady was named First Team All-State and AGLA Defensive Player of the Year.
With only four seniors leaving the team, next season’s outlook is good. Decorated varsity players who will continue to play for the 2014-2015 season include: Smith, who was named AGLA Sportswoman of the Year and Honorable Mention All-State; Nicole Cosmany, a junior midfielder who was named to 1st Team All-State; Katarina Johnston, a junior midfielder/attack player who was named to 1st Team All-State: Ronni Winter, a junior midfielder/attack player who was named to Honorable Mention All-State; and Madison Wood, a junior midfielder who was named to Honorable Mention All-State. In addition, eight of the varsity PGLC players (Smith, Cosmany, Johnston, Winter, Wood, Kolesar, Taylor Goodman, and Elly Clemens) played for Team Arizona in the U.S. Lacrosse National Women’s Tournament in Baltimore, Maryland, the last weekend of May. As for the rest of the team, their record speaks for itself; they are, after all, the reigning state champions.
The JV team is led by Head Coach Emily Neumann, a former PGLC player. Assisting Coach Neuman are Bryant Johnston, Chris Havrilla, and Greg Frey, each of whom brings experience and passion to the game. The junior varsity players are encouraged and mentored by the coaches, the varsity girls, and even the returning junior varsity players. PGLC’s junior varsity team has proven to be an incredible training ground for the varsity level and a powerful team in its own right with winning records in almost every season since the club started and two runs at the state championship. This season the team had eight wins and just three losses. Considering that most of these girls are new to the game and that the state championship game for the JV level is only two years old, this team is a clear success.
Since the beginning, the mentality of everyone involved with PGLC has been to grow the game. The girls who have been around for one year, five years, or somewhere in between all encourage new girls to take their game to the next level. It is a positive, nurturing environment. And these girls are not just leaders on the field; they are leaders in the community and in the classroom. PGLC girls are involved in student government, yearbook, National Honors Society, Society of Women Scholars, Mentors, Teacher Academy, DECA, and countless other organizations—both in and out of the school environment. They truly exemplify the values of the Pinnacle High School surrounding communities—involvement, commitment, academics, and family.
Although lacrosse is not yet sanctioned by the AIA (Arizona Interscholastic Association), which oversees all high school sports in the state of Arizona, it is likely to become sanctioned within the next few years. Take a visit to any town on the East Coast, drive past an elementary, middle, or high school around the time of the final release bell, and try to count the number of girls and boys you see carrying lacrosse sticks. It will be challenging, to be sure, because it often looks as if every child carries one. In certain states, it is more popular than the usual powerhouses of football, basketball, and soccer. Becoming sanctioned across the board is only a matter of time.
According to US Lacrosse, “lacrosse is one of the fastest-growing sports at the high school level and is now sanctioned as a championship sport in 21 states. Several US Lacrosse chapters also play major roles in organizing regular season play and running state championships in areas where the sport is not yet sanctioned” (http://www.uslacrosse.org/TopNav2Left/Players/HighSchool.aspx). Enter organizations such as PGLC that operate as members of the Arizona Girls Lacrosse Association (AGLA), which functions under the umbrella of the Arizona chapter of US Lacrosse, the national governing body for both women’s and men’s lacrosse from youth leagues all the way up to college and post-collegiate programs. All girls who play on the PGLC are required to be members of US Lacrosse, which provides them with certain benefits, including insurance during games.
The PGLC (a 501c-3 organization) is run by an incredible group of passionate parents and coaches, including Cary Winter, the 2013-2015 President who has been involved with the program for several years and has had two girls play with the program. In addition to the board, there are several ways that interested parents can get involved–as team parents, game photographers, etc. With all of these organizations behind them and a strong board at the helm, the PGLC’s future is nothing but bright.
While the majority of the girls on the PGLC varsity and junior varsity teams do attend Pinnacle High School, its club status allows the teams to pull from surrounding schools that do not have lacrosse teams as well—schools such as Cactus Shadows, Sunnyslope, Barry Goldwater, and even Explorer and Mountain Trail Middle Schools. This has been a win-win situation for girls who want to play and for PGLC, which reaps the rewards of talent from surrounding schools and areas without programs. The AGLA is considered a high school league; however, the absence of a youth league in Arizona allows 7th and 8th graders to play on the high school league’s junior varsity teams. Historically Pinnacle’s JV roster includes at least four or five 7th or 8th graders each season.
For a more detailed overview of the sport, its origins, and its growth, visit the US Lacrosse website at http://www.uslacrosse.org/UtilityNav/AboutTheSport/Overview.aspx.
Lacrosse is truly like no other sport. Often described as a mix of basketball, soccer, and hockey, lacrosse is a fast-paced game that requires agility, speed, coordination, and—perhaps above all else—heart. To learn more about the Pinnacle Girls Lacrosse Club or to join for the 2014-2015 season, visit the PGLC website at http://pinnaclegirlslacrosse.com. Pre-season practices start the first week of October; in January, the girls are placed on either varsity or junior varsity, and the season officially gets underway. And ask any current player; it’s a game that pulls you in. Most girls would agree that once they put that stick in their hand, they were hooked.
Pinnacle heart can’t be beat. It’s this heart that makes championships happen.
