Henlopen Conference

Caesar Rodney (6-10) - Caesar Rodney, despite dropping nine losses in the regular season found itself as the number 10 seed in the state tournament, thanks in large part to their very strong strength of schedule.  The Riders came close to earning their first tournament win since 2004, but fell short by only two goals to Wilmington Friends.  The Riders graduated six seniors, but their main advantage in the 2016 season is retaining the powerhouse scoring duo of seniors Delaney Steele (72G, 8A) and Kourtney Olsen (45G, 22A) - together, the two seniors scored a combined 117 out of the team's 184 goals.  Also returning for the Riders are seniors Jenna Rigby (27G, 10A) and Maegan Stewart (9G, 3A) in the midfield, sophomore Kacie Cava (12G, 1A) on attack, and senior Madeleine Card on defense.  Returning for one more season between the pipes is senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Longest. 

Caesar Rodney opens up their season at Charter on Tuesday, March 22nd.

Cape Henlopen (14-4) - Cape Henlopen extended their consecutive in-state winning streak to 84 games on May 26th last year when they defeated Polytech to earn their seventh straight state championship.  All four of Cape's losses have come from strong out of state opponents - Queen Anne's County (MD); Stephen Decatur (MD), who had an almost perfect season last year, having its undefeated record snapped in the Maryland MPSSAA 3A/2A state final game; Worcester Prep (MD); and Bishop Ireton (VA).  This year, Bishop Ireton is out and St. Mary's, a school that competes in the competitive IAMM in Maryland is in.

Six seniors graduated from last year's squad, including leading goal scorer and current Hofstra player Sarah Tappan (91G, 14A), Lexi Woodruff (41G, 30A), and Jordan Brown (32G, 15A) on attack, Temple player Taylor Gooch (2G, 2A) and Coryn Cannon on defense, as well four year starter and goalie, Sam Broadhurst.  2016's team is fairly young, carrying only four seniors (would be senior attacker Cam Wick is missing from this year's roster) - Temple commit Lizzie Frederick (38G, 36A), Tess Bernheimer (9G, 7A), Alison Palmer (2G), and Elizabeth Lockwood a transfer from Sussex Tech.  Cape also received sophomore Victoria Lockwood (scored 24G, 10A at ST) as a transfer this year, as well as Evelyn Shoop from Severn School in Maryland, a junior who is verbally committed to Florida.

Key returners on attack include junior Cailey Thornburg (20G, 8A), Korinne LeMaire (2G), and sophomore Katie Frederick (4G, 1A).  In the midfield, junior Katie Klabe (14G, 8A), as well as sophomore Annie Judge (3G, 2A) should return, and juniors Sarah Hyde and Sarah Rambo on defense.  Junior Iseabal Cryne is tasked with replacing the very talented Sam Broadhurst.

Cape still has plenty of experience, but might this be the year that the Viking's in-state unbeaten streak finally be broken?  An intact Polytech will get a stab at it at the Panther's turf on April 20th.
 

Dover (10-5) - Dover is coming off one of their best season's in school history, and lost only one senior in the offseason to graduation.  A solid nucleus of goal scorers returns in senior Ave Burleigh (25G, 5A), junior Mira Prisco (36G, 11A), and sophomores Grace Gast (25G, 4A) and Cydney Barnes (18G, 7A).  Stephanie Blakely is the new head coach.

Dover needs to improve its strength of schedule if they want to make it into the tournament - last season it was very weak, playing only five teams with a winning record.  Adding Charter to their schedule was a step in the right direction, but dropping Caravel doesn't do them any favors.    Dover opens up their season at home vs Cape Henlopen on Wednesday, March 23rd.

Indian River - One of four new varsity programs this year, Indian River moves up in the ranks after one year as a JV program, where the Indians went 8-0-1 in their inaugural season.  Leading the varsity program this year is first year head coach Kelsea Ayers, a 2015 Ohio State graduate where Ayers was a member of the div. 1 women's lacrosse team. 

The Indians will kick off their first varsity season at Polytech on Wednesday, March 23rd.

Polytech (15-2) - Lynn Richardson is another coach in Delaware that has done wonders for a program in a short amount of time. Polytech's girls lacrosse program only began six years ago, in 2010 - since then, Coach Richardson has brought her Panthers to the state tournament consistently for the past three seasons. First round jitters in 2013 and 2014 caused the Panthers to be upset by the lower seed, but finally in 2015 experience paid off as the Panthers finally earned their first tournament win, riding that wave all the way to the state finals. Pretty impressive for a team that is only entering its sixth varsity season. 

The Panthers graduated only four seniors from last year's state finalist team.  Returning this year as seniors are last year's Player of the Year, Ali McKay (104G, 19G - Bloomsburg, field hockey) along with Jamie Trabaudo (68G, 18A - UNC lacrosse) in the midfield, Kathryn Richardson (17G, 32A) on attack, and Kaitlin Bergold on defense.  Sophomores Madi McKay (46G, 14A) returns on attack and Shannon Stephan in goal.

Polytech's first game of the season is home against Indian River on Wednesday, March 23rd.

Smyrna (6-7-1) - Smyrna finished its second year of varsity lacrosse 6-7-1.  The Eagles were commanding against weaker Blue Hen teams, and held their own against tougher competition.  Key returnees include a quartet of senior scorers in Shabnam Norozzi (33G, 3A), Alison Sayers (22G, 10A), Allison Wheatley (21G, 5A), and Madeline Price (20G, 5A). 

Sussex Academy - Another one of the four new programs, Sussex Academy joins the ranks of varsity programs after a year as a JV program.  The Seahawks are carrying an astounding 27 girls on their varsity roster, all of whom are between 8th - 10th. 

Sussex Tech (8-7) - In 2014, Sussex Tech came within two spots of making the state tournament for the  fourth straight year.  2015 follows the same story - after improving their record to 8-7, the Ravens missed the tournament for a second straight year by .08th of a point. 

This year, Sussex Tech has to replace six seniors that supplied 115 of the teams 178 goals, as well as a few underclassmen that are missing from 2016's roster.  Junior Madison Bada (23G, 9A) is the lone remaining goal scorer, senior Jordan Ensley looks to be the goalie.

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Email: [email protected]

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Blue Hen Conference

AI (7-8) - AI DuPont has a new coach this season, Sam Kotowski a 2010 graduate from AI and former goalie for Neumann University.  Kotowski inherits a team that has struggled over the years, usually averaging six to seven wins per season (AI's last winning season was back in 2007).  AI only lost one senior to graduation and returns their leading goal scorer, senior Liz Shields who scored a whopping 88 of the teams 156 goals last year

Appo (6-9) - The Jaguars only graduated two seniors from last year's squad, unfortunately their leading goal scorer, senior Delaney Chrisco (78G, 7A) transferred to Caravel leaving a big hole to fill in the midfield.

Brandywine (4-11) - Brandywine is on their fifth new coach in five years, this year it's Mary Adam taking over the Bulldogs varsity program.  Five seniors graduated, but seniors Cady Burnside (44G, 17A) and Nicole Fontana (20G, 5A) return for one more year. 

Hard to believe that Brandywine was the state runner-up 15 years ago to the 2001 champion Tower Hill (Tower won by a score of 10-8). 

Charter (13-3) - Charter has been very successful under the helm of their head coach Cindy DePrisco, winning three straight Blue Hen titles and was the state runner-up two years ago.  The Force graduated eight players in the off-season, many of which were three and four-year starters.  Senior Christina LaPorte (13G, 7A) returns as the lone attacker, fellow senior Caroline Grasso (6G, 1A) should bring experience to the defense.  The force retains their midfield from the 2015 season with seniors Katherine Chitty (23G, 13A) and Jordan Wood (59G, 15A), along with junior Kendall Adkins (22G, 2A)

The Force opens up their season at home on Tuesday (3/22) vs Caesar Rodney before taking on Tower Hill one week later at home. 

Christiana (1-12) - Aubrey Piechoski takes over the head coaching duties at Christiana this year, after having been the assistant coach for the past several years.  The Vikings are in dire need of rebuilding; over the past ten years the program has only won a total of six games and in 2015 the defense let in 118 more goals than the offense produced.

Concord (8-7) - Concord has had a decent record the past few years, finishing right over the .500 mark in both 2014 and 2015.  Six seniors graduated, including four year varsity starter Sarah Birmingham in goal.  Senior Madeline Marconi (41G, 6A) returns on attack, with junior Caroline Procak (44G, 6A) in the midfield. 

Hodgson (2-13) - The Silver Eagles were pretty young last year, carrying only four seniors on their varsity roster.  Returning in 2016 are their top three goal scorers in junior Kassi Buckworth (20G), Sonia-Evette Cabreja (18G, 1A), and Cecilia Massey (14G).

Middletown (10-6) - Middletown reached the state tournament for the first time since 2012 as the number 9, but ultimately fell in the first round to Ursuline 15-9.  The Cavaliers lost their top three goal scorers to graduation in the Pantazes twins and Lexi Johnston, as well as one attacker, midfielder, and defender.  Junior Emily Saylor (16G, 13A) returns on attack, and Mauri Hainsworth in goal.  The Cavs also have a new coach in 2016 in Amber Harmon.

The fight for Blue Hen is usually between Middletown and Charter - if Middletown wants a piece of the pie this year they'll have rebuild their attack and midfield line.

Mt. Pleasant (9-6) - Head coach Caroline Phillips has done wonders turning around Mount's girl's lacrosse program - in her two years she's brought what was previously a 4-11 team to a combined 16-14 record, including what was the schools first ever winning season in program history in 2015. The Knights will have to make up on attack for the loss of Alyssa More (51G, 24A), Jordan Sisken (18G, 4A), and Sarah Reuther (12G, 4A), as well as needing to replace their goalie as well.  Current senior Kate Walker (52G, 3A - committed to play field hockey at Michigan), a three year starter for Mount is not playing this year for the Knights. Walker's and More's combined 103 goals will be difficult to replace.

Newark (6-9) - The yellowjackets have held a consistent 6-9 record for the past three seasons, but graduated eleven seniors, leaving only three underclassmen from last year's varsity roster in 2016.  The lone senior on the squad, Faith Howard (25G) will carry the attack, finding her supporting cast will be the trick.

Contact Info

Email: [email protected]

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Team Stats

Team win/loss records, as well as team scoring

UPDATED:  Look for updates after the season starts!

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Player Stats

Top goal scorers in the state, along with assists and total points

UPDATED:  To be updated after the first date of competition

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