Falcon girls' lacrosse preview

RUMFORD -- What a difference a year makes and that’s precisely how the Mountain Valley girls' lacrosse team needs to feel because it has plenty of experience to rely on entering the upcoming season.

The Falcons went 5-7 in 2010.

A strength will be 11 returning letter winners, including the top three scorers back from last year. Junior center Ayla Allen has scored 120 goals in two years, a state-high 75 in 2010. Seniors Nicole Lavorgna (attack wing) and Tia White (defensive wing) are the third and second leading scorers. White will be out the entire season recovering from ACL reconstruction.

“They improved a great deal as a unit last year and that experience should help this year,” said coach Rick White, who believes returning a good majority of the starters from last year should help out of the gate better this year and they will need better balance in scoring goals.

“If we can play together and play as a team we will have some success this spring. I'm looking forward to seeing this team develop throughout the season,” he said.

The Falcons will be looking for Elizabeth Glover (third home), Lavorgna, and Whitney Ruff (attack wing) to step up and fill this void with a number of other players. In the midfield, juniors Chelsea Bordeau, Ruff and Allen should help slow the other teams down in their transition game.

Defensively, the core of Alexa Fryover (point), Makayla White (cover point) and Abby Day (third man) should give the Lady Falcons a solid defensive front. A weakness might be filling the void left by goalie Hollie Theriault. Sophomore Ari Glover and freshman Jordan True will battle, however, neither player has played lacrosse before.

The team losses included Brittany Bedard (home) and Audrey Morin (first home).

“We are looking to improve with each game and take the season one game at a time,” said White. “Our goal is to execute and maintain our focus in each game. The outcome of our season rests on the shoulders of how well the new goalies pick up the sport and how the defense plays together.”

They are sophomores Katlyn Burgess (home) and Zaraya Simard (home).

New players looking very promising to date are junior Chelsea Gauvin (home), Emily Gallant (attack wing), Kaitlin Armstrong (defensive wing) and Rebecca Maifeld (home), and freshmen Katie Puiia (attack/defensive wing) and Kayla Pingree (home).