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player ready...Play began this week in the high school girls lacrosse playoffs, with 53 schools participating.
Should this year’s tournament end the same way each of the last six tourneys have, then at about 9 p.m. on June 5 at Glenbrook North, members of Loyola’s girls lacrosse team will be hoisting the state-championship trophy.
But not winning a state title doesn’t mean a season hasn’t been a success. If that was the case, then there would be 52 failures and there would be Loyola.
And success stories do exist, especially because girls lacrosse has conference championships to win.
This year, the North Suburban Conference was a six-team league, and Lake Zurich won the round-robin schedule by going 5-0. Lake Forest was 4-1, Stevenson 3-2, Warren 2-3, Libertyville 1-4 and Vernon Hills 0-5.
Meanwhile, in the East Suburban Catholic Conference, the Carmel Corsairs prevailed, going 6-0 in the seven-team league. Fenwick was 5-1, Benet, Marist and Marian Catholic 3-3, Nazareth 1-5 and St. Viator 0-6.
Carmel’s success was somewhat surprising for two reasons: This is just the third year that the school has had a varsity team; and it was a bottom feeder as recently as last season when it went 1-5 in the league.
But coach Jim Lasky’s team has been on fire all season, including a win over Highland Park on Monday in the first round of tournament play.
Next for the Corsairs will be a 7:30 p.m. game Wednesday against 11th-seeded Lyons.
The top 11 teams in the state received first-round byes, with Loyola the top seed, followed by New Trier, Hinsdale Central and Glenbrook South. Lake Zurich was No. 10. The IHSA does not run girls lacrosse. The tournament is organized by the Illinois Women’s Lacrosse Association.
Carmel’s Lasky was named the ESCC’s Coach of the Year, and Grace Quinn was named the league’s Player of the Year.
Listed on Carmel’s roster are seniors Mara Daley, Kara Paslaski, Anna Cebulski, Maeve Daw, Alyssa Ferrera, Nicole Lococo, Kelsey Reed, Amanda Lindsey, Karoline Yacono, Mary Vanco and Issabella Porter.
Besides Quinn, the juniors are Lee Hermann, Olivia Brenner, Monique Pineda, Alexandria Chiselko, MaKenzie Roos, Briana Barraza and Bridget Kotek.
The sophomores are Alyson Lindsey, Katie Anderson, Jillian Johnson, Margeaux Adam, Juliana Vinci and Anna Hoffman.
Boys lacrosse
Warren will begin play in the Illinois High School Lacrosse Association’s B playoffs on Wednesday against either South Elgin or St. Francis.
The Blue Devils are the top seed in the 44-team tournament. Last year, Warren lost in the finals to Naperville Central. This year, Naperville is in the A playoffs, which will determine the state champion.
Among B teams, Grayslake Central is seeded eighth, Deerfield sixth, Carmel 11th and Mundelein 22nd. Maine South is the No. 2 seed and Cary-Grove is No. 3.
In boys lacrosse, new teams start out playing at the B level, and then move up to A when they win the B playoffs.
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In the A tourney are 34 teams with New Trier and Loyola seeded 1-2. Those two schools have dominated the playoffs in recent years. Lake Forest is seeded fourth, Lake Zurich 28th, Libertyville sixth, Grayslake North 11th and Highland Park 32nd.