Canton girls lacrosse seeks to find confidence and wins

CANTON — Canton High girls lacrosse coach Dee Stephan is no stranger to the lacrosse sidelines. She was the first varsity girls lacrosse coach at Avon High and led Simsbury’s Ethel Walker squad to two New England championships.

Now, she is trying to help a young team gain confidence and some victories. There are just three seniors on the squad for the Warriors, who dropped a one-goal decision to Lewis Mills in their second game of the season earlier this week, 6-5.

“It’s a fairly young team,” Stephan said. “They have a lot of travel and youth lacrosse experience. But the high school game is different and they’re making the adjustment to that. It’s a big change. It is more physical.”

A majority of the program consists of freshmen and sophomores.

“Once they get some more confident with themselves, they’ll surprise some teams,” Stephan said. “It is a matter of believing. They have the skills.”

Freshmen Kaelyn Oliver and sophomore Olivia Sullivan each had two goals in the loss to Lewis Mills. Senior Mary Grace Bangs added a goal while freshman goalie Amanda Gottlieb made four saves.

Bangs, a midfielder, is one of three senior captains for the Warriors. “She is a leader by example,” Stephan said. “She leads with her work ethic in practice and in the games.”

Senior defenseman Jesse Lederman is the veteran in the defensive backfield. She plays with two sophomores and several freshmen. “She is the vocal leader of the team,” Stephan said. Senior goalie Jenna Van Schaack is battling Gottlieb for playing time in goal.

Stephan is pleased with her team’s attitude and work ethic. “We’ve thrown a lot of new concepts at them and they’re responding positively,” she said. “We’re pushing them and they’ll get there.”

Canton (0-3, 0-2 NCCC) is entering its fourth varsity season and look to improve on last year’s 1-14 record. The Warriors dropped their season opener to Ellington, 14-7. They also fell to Suffield High, 17-5 under the lights on Thursday evening. Oliver had another two goals while Emma Charron, Olivia Sullivan and Jackie Grabowski also scored for Canton.

Canton will play another game under lights on May 13 at Watertown at 7 p.m.

CANTON: UPCOMING SCHEDULE

• APRIL: 16: GRANBY; 19: at Avon; 22: at Somers; 24: at Windsor; 26: ELLINGTON, 4:30 p.m.; 30: SUFFIELD
• MAY: 3: at Granby; 6: at Housatonic; 10: AVON; 13: at Watertown, 7 p.m.; 16: SOMERS; 20: HOUSATONIC

Games begin at 4 p.m. unless otherwise listed.