Cats go coast to coast
West Ranch girls selected for national tournament
Four West Ranch students were selected to represent the Los Angeles team in the 2018 US Lacrosse Women’s National Tournament.
The two-day event will be held at Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York will take place this Memorial Day weekend.
The Wildcats’ Bella Gervasi, Abi Jin, Jackie Nuchow and Sammy Nuchow were among the 22 girls selected to make the roster after tryouts, which were held just a few weeks ago.
With two practices down, the quartet of Wildcats are taking the time to bond and learn everything that their tournament coaches, Maddy Morrissey and Meghan Toomey, have to offer.
“I love our coaches,” Jin said. “I have known them for a little while since my sister used to play for them, but I love their coaching style. They are two of my favorite coaches ever.”
With eight teams scheduled to begin pool play today, the Los Angeles team will play three games on the day. The first one will be at 11 a.m. against Connecticut 3, the second at 2 p.m. against Tennessee and the final match of pool play against Maine at 5 p.m.
“I’m looking forward to see how the LA team does against all the other states,” Jackie said. “Just to see how well the West Coast teams do against the East Coast teams.”
The teams will then be seeded according to their record and play again on Sunday, depending on their seed. The first game will begin at 7 a.m. and the last match is at 10 a.m.
Taking a break from practice, as a little bit of an incentive, the girls were able to watch the NCAA 2018 Division 1 Women’s Lacrosse Final Four games Friday afternoon.
“Both games were so intense and the level of play is so much higher,” Jackie said. “Now that I’ve seen them play and I know what it’s like it makes me want to make it and play D1 that much more.”
Having a great year at West Ranch, finishing 15-4 on the season, Gervasi believes that the league season has prepared her for this tournament.
“I feel like playing at West Ranch gave me exposure to other girls and their playing style because most of the girls that we play are older and more mature than us, so I think it’s helped us out a lot.”