Harrison Girls Lacrosse Preview

The Harrison girl's lacrosse team has been preparing for this season for most of the year. The following is an interview with Huskies head coach Wendy Swenson.

As far as age and, more importantly experience goes, what type of team do you expect to have this season?

"I think we are a young team, but we are a hard-working team and we are going to do pretty well this year. I have about a dozen girls returning and out of our 21 kids I only have seven seniors and three juniors so we are a pretty young team. This group in particular has a great work ethic and all the girls really have the desire to win."

What were some of the weaknesses your team had last year that you hope to improve upon this season?

"This team has a different dynamic than last year's. I want to see our girls play off each other and utilize one another's strengths. I want to see the players feed off each other both on and off the field; especially with girls -- they need the time to mesh, if the girls can learn to play together as a team we should be successful."

Who are some of your returning players coming back who you see being big contributors?

"Melissa Shulman on attack is looking to score the 200th goal of her career this season, she is at 136 right now and if she plays as I know she is capable of then she can definitely achieve all of her aspirations. On defense, I have Marissa DeCarlo, she is soft-spoken and quiet but she leads by example. Some of the younger kids like to take charge but none of them are vocal leaders just yet, most of the players are quiet leaders."

Who are some players new to the team that you are expecting to make a big impact this season?

"I have a lot of young talent this season which is nice, I hate to single out any one girl. But someone who will step up this season is Alex Misisco. She is only a sophomore and this year she is basically replacing her older sister who scored a hundred goals for us last season. She is going to step it up for us this year and even though she was on the team last year she is definitely going to see more time this season."

How has the team been preparing in the off-season?

"During the winter we had a clinic every Wednesday at the high school and on every Sunday we played in a winter league in Mt. Vernon. I also had Manhattanville College come and run some clinics with the kids here at the high school."

What are your goals for the season?

"Our team goal is to win the league and to get to the third round of sectionals. Individually I want to see everyone do their best and really excel. I see a tremendous amount of potential in each one of our players and my own personal goal is to see all of the kids forget about their limitations and exceed their expectations so that each athlete can reach her full potential."

Are there one or two games circled on the schedule this season?

"We have a scrimmage against Pelham and they are always a big rival for us. We also scheduled a lot of big games against teams like Fox Lane and North Salem who have the majority of their teams returning from last year. Last season we lost to Ossining and we thought we should have won the game, so that is definitely one we want to get back."

What are you personally looking forward to this season?

"I think these girls can do a lot more than they think they can. I really do, so I would definitely like to see us go out and play hard this year and compete to win our league."

Coach Swenson and the Huskies are wrapping up the pre-season in the upcoming weeks and look to be a force in their league this year.