Brett Carroll
Staff Writer
Veteran leadership is expected to guide the girls’ lacrosse team this spring at Holmdel High School.
Coach Sal Guastella will call on his skilled seniors and juniors who return from the 2017 team that ended 14-6 and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Central Jersey, Group 2 state sectional tournament.
“With a solid core of returning players, we should be a competitive team,” Guastella said. “We did lose a few seniors from last year, but the girls that we have returning are very good, and have a lot of experience.”
Guastella is confident that his veterans will be the key to what should be a successful season.
“Our senior and junior leadership will be very important,” Guastella said. “Especially this year, since we will be playing many sophomores and some freshmen, too. Their leadership will be the key to the type of season we have.”
One player who will be asked to be a leader of the Hornets is senior defender Erin Shields.
“I expect this season to be just as good as last year,” Shields said. “I don’t expect that to change. We did lose a bunch of seniors, but I think that with the new freshman we have coming in, we have a chance to go back to the Shore Conference [Tournament] and do really well in the state tournament.”
Shields felt that a key aspect to the Hornets will be to play with speed.
“I think as a team, we need to stay running,” Shields said. “I think last year, coach set the tone for us to play fast. That’s a big part of the game, so we have to keep that up. Like I said, we lost some key midfielders, but the whole team is going to have to work together and fill those gaps.”
Another senior who will be a crucial part of the team is Isabel Russo.
The highly skilled class of juniors features midfielders/attackers Erin Mendini, Kinsey Clark, Hayley Cowles, Kelli Ratkoski and Samantha Di Maio.
The Hornets were slated to open their season on April 3 at Rumson-Fair Haven High School.