Lacrosse team inproving with velocity

Lacrosse team inproving with velocity

Friday, June 08, 2007

By Jake Stern, Allderdice High School (City of Pittsburgh Schools)

In Allderdice, the major sports of football, basketball, soccer, and baseball are perennially competitive throughout western Pennsylvania.

Though these major sports still reign supreme, a new sport, lacrosse, is on the rise. Poised to become one of Dice’s popular sports, the youthful lacrosse team (only in its 8th season) has steadily improved. Led by seniors Steve Krasnow, Zach Green, Nick Kunz, Greg Shaffer, and Sam McNulty, Allderdice posted a record of 3-9.

Now, this record may seem unimpressive, but last year’s record was 1-9. The year before that the Dragons’ lacrosse team went to the Division II Championship.

“Most other schools the Dragons play have 30 to 40 guys on their team, but the thing I am most proud of is that after each game, the teams we played were more exhausted than we were,” said Coach John Stehle.

Allderdice has played against some of the premier teams in the region, like Trinity Christian, Winchester Thurston, Hampton, and Shaler. Against each team, Allderdice played quite competitively. “These boys are real warriors and I’m impressed,” said Assistant Head Coach and Allderdice alum, Ned O’Donnelly.

While the team has a plethora of seniors to lead them, the strong sophomore class reinforces the fact that Allderdice lacrosse is here to stay. Sophomores include Nick “Cheez-It” Zioncheck, Aaron Zell, Offensive Player of the Year Eric Levine, and the Best Team Beard winner Jesse Helfer.

“This year was an off-year for me,” said Aaron Zell. “I can see these fellas being a pretty sweet team in a few years and even having a shot at winning a title.” According to the statistic sheet, the sophomores accumulated over 75% of Allderdice’s scoring this year, and about 50% of the assists.

When told about the statistic, Zioncheck said, “Yeah, I can see that. I mean, we sophomores were consistently decent on the attack.”

After a season of progress, the boys still have things to improve. “We have got to get better on defense because the next kid who comes in and plays will be shocked to see 40-50 shots come in like this year,” said goalie, Nick Kunz.

Another problem that the Allderdice boys have is that they lack the stick skills that the suburban schools have, mainly because of their relative lack of years of experience with this sport.

This season for Allderdice has been one of great progress and intensity. It has been established as a tradition that is sure to continue as the team gets better and as Dice recognizes that Allderdice Lacrosse is ‘the real deal’.