Girls lacrosse wraps up season

The girls lacrosse team has closed the books on a building year for the young and inexperienced Outlaws squad, who only returned five varsity players to their team. The other 11 players that joined the team had never even picked up a stick.

Coach Michele Hammer said, "When you look at our win/loss record (1-10) it doesn't look like we had a good season, but every game we played our defense got stronger, our stick skills got better, and our communication was enhanced."

Hammer told The Nugget that she had three strong offensive players, Kaitlynn Hendrickson, Maison Morgan, and Whitney Hanson, who helped lead and solidify the team.

Hendrickson, a senior, came to Sisters four years ago as a freshman with lacrosse experience and has played and helped build the Lady Outlaws lacrosse team the last four years. Kaitlynn was Sisters' top scorer for the season, with 29 goals.

"Kaitlynn's stick skills are phenomenal," said Hammer. "She's fast on her feet and can read the weaknesses of the goalie before she takes a shot. She and Maison (Morgan) make a great team as attacks, and assist each other in goals."

Morgan, as a freshman, also did an outstanding job at attack and scored 15 goals over the course of the season.

"Maison has amazing stick skills for a freshman," said Hammer. "She's able to gain possession of the ball even when she's surrounded by defenders. It's fun to watch her play."

Hanson rounds off the trio of strong players. Whitney played attack, middie and defense for the Outlaws and was an excellent utility player who scored 12 goals for Sisters.

Junior Morgan Duvenick started the season as Sisters' goalie but halfway through had to move to defense. Midfielder Nikki Olson was injured and unable to run and play at the midfield position, so coach Hammer moved Duvenick to midfield and Olson took over as goalie.

"Nikki has a natural talent for goalie," said Hammer. "She averaged 70 percent in blocked shots and had 48 blocked shots on the year."

Duvenick did a great job the first half of the season in the goal and finished with an outstanding defensive performance.

"Morgan is a very strong defensive player," said Hammer. "She can see the field and read the players, which came from her experience as goalie."

Other offensive support came from midfielders Jordyn Clymens, Riley Barrett, and Sierra Slaughter. Barrett scored six goals for the Outlaws and Barrett and Slaughter each contributed four.

"All of these girls were fast and quick, and their skills grew tremendously over the course of the season," stated Hammer. "Sierra (freshman) blended right in and quickly picked up the game. The speed from all three of these girls really helped our game."

Jordan Kropf, first-year player, also contributed on offense.

"Jordan did a fantastic job as our third attack, and really supported Kaitlynn and Maison," said Hammer.

Defensive players included Randi Anderson, Megan Connolly, Brittney McClellan, Tiffany Cormallis, Mikayla Duvenick, Kristina Sparling and foreign exchange student Angel Peng.

"These guys were all new to the team and the sport," said Hammer. "They did a great job and learned how to get in and scrap for the ball. With another year of stick experience, they will be strong defensive players and will be able to move the ball to the attack players."

Hammer recalled a few season highlights.

"We played Corvallis three times this year and every game we were within one point of them. We did win our last game against them, 9-8. Roseburg was a very tough competitor, and our first two games against them were ugly. They're a very experienced team with a strong youth program. Although the score of our third game with them doesn't show it (9-15) it was the toughest and most aggressive game we've played all year."

Hammer is already looking forward to next year.

"This year we got stronger with every game we played, and we meshed as a unit. Next year, when we move to varsity, we'll be ready to play at that level."