Even though the Valley Regional girls’ lacrosse team was only able to post a record of 1-15 in the 2016 spring season, the Warriors still did some positive things that pleased Head Coach Cory Needleman, who was in her first year at the helm. Needleman, a former member of the Canadian U-19 National Team that won a bronze medal at the Lacrosse World Championships in 2004, brought a little juice to the program with her vast amount of experience and new techniques. Valley worked hard on the field during the season and, although the Warriors’ effort didn’t really show up in the win-loss column, Coach Needleman felt that the girls made some major strides through the course of the campaign.

“I didn’t go in with any expectations. I just hoped the girls wanted to learn. It was hard and challenging, but I think it was amazing, as well,” Coach Needleman said. “The girls listened and picked up what I was saying and most of them were here to learn, so we had a lot of fun. I’m really excited for next year because it was a phenomenal experience.”

The Warriors took some close losses to State Tournament-bound teams such as Morgan (a 16-14 defeat), Immaculate (10-9), and St. Bernard (13-10) before breaking through for their lone victory. Valley’s season highlight came when the squad earned its win by defeating RHAM at home by the score of 10-9 on April 30.

“The game against Morgan gave us hope that we could do this. It was a turning point and we knew if we continued on that path and drove forward, things would get better,” Needleman said. “We should have won our game against Immaculate, so that was really tough and the RHAM game was the big moment because we got over the hump for that first win.”

At the season’s end, the Warriors announced their team awards and one of the recipients was junior captain Brianna O’Brien, who took home the team’s Most Valuable Player Award. Freshman Alexandra Ruel received the Sportsmanship Award, sophomore Jamie Jaillet was the Defensive MVP, senior Gabby Giangrande earned Midfield MVP honors, and sophomore Kathryn Burr was selected as the Attack MVP. Junior goalie Rhyan Nedobity took home a big postseason award for the Warriors as she was named to the All-Shoreline Conference Second Team for her solid play in the net.

“Rhyan did a great job for us and is very talented and very dedicated. Honestly, I didn’t get to spend the time I would have liked with her, but we have a good program for her this summer,” Coach Needleman said. “Goalie is a difficult position and she is working on not getting down when you give up a goal. I’m very excited for her going forward and she was the glue that holds us together.”

Valley had to say good-bye to four seniors upon the campaign’s conclusion in captains Julia Hammond (attack) and Hunter Hosley (defender/midfielder), as well as defender Elizabeth Forsythe, plus Giangrande. The quartet’s play and leadership will be missed by Coach Needleman and the rest of the Warriors.

“They were all leaders and one thing I stressed was that you don’t have to be a captain to be a leader,” said Needleman. “They all did things to make the mood lighter, encourage their teammates by showing them what to do, and they all did it in a variety of ways.”

Despite the fact that the Warriors are losing four seniors, they will be returning O’Brien, who will continue as a captain, along with Burr and Jaillet. Valley will also have Nedobity back in goal and so that bodes well for 2017. Needleman feels that a key component going forward is for the Warriors to have a bigger turnout of girls on the team in the future.

“This season, we had to go back to basics. We had to spend a lot of time in practice on stick work that we shouldn’t have had to do. By the end of the year, though, they were doing drills one-handed, switching hands, passing, and weren’t dropping balls, so they improved hugely with their stick skills,” Coach Needleman said. “I’m hoping for the improvement of players like Alyssa Evarts, who ended the year well. Allie [Ruel] was injured at the end of the season, so hopefully, she comes back healthy and Brianna, as well, who also was injured. I want them all to work hard in the offseason, push forward, and stay on the path to succeed. We do have some good young players and a talented sophomore transfer coming next year, but we need more players, more athletes. We need numbers so we can have substitutions and full rotations.”

From the Sidelines

The 2016 Valley Regional girls’ lacrosse team’s roster consisted of seniors Elizabeth Forsythe, Gabby Giangrande, Julia Hammond, and Hunter Hosley; juniors Rhyan Nedobity, Samantha Conroy, Alyssa Evarts, Alexxi Meadow Williams, Rachel Mangano and Briana O’Brien; sophomores Jamie Jaillet, Maya Gold, Isabel Hosley, Kathryn Burr, Hilary Gahran, Laura Quinn, and Kylie Papoosha. Alexandra Ruel was the team’s lone freshman.