Offense sparks Clarke's leap

Clarke made considerable progress on the lacrosse field this spring, and one needs to look no further than overall record, where a 4-5 mark in Conference IV-C (9-5 overall) left them a whisker away from making the playoffs.

The third team in a three-way tie for fifth in a conference where the top six teams made the postseason, the finish still represented a big step forward for a team that was ninth out of 10 teams in 2011.

“These girls wanted to make the playoffs and did the job they needed to make it,” Lady Rams coach Rick Aragona said. “Unfortunately, the tiebreaker system didn’t play out.”

The driving force behind the success was obvious on a team that boasted six players who scored at least 10 goals, including All-County senior low attack Nikki Gibaldi. She finished with a team-high 64 goals in 14 games — an average of six per contest — and still found time to chip in with 18 assists. “She imposed and demonstrated the intensity and dedication needed to play,” Aragona said of Gibaldi, a four-year member of the varsity team.

Eighth-grader Jen Wahlig, a high attack, had 41 goals and 22 assists and earned All-Conference honors, while her sister, Nicole, a junior center midfielder, was named All-County Honorable Mention after netting 26 goals and a dozen assists. Junior Kristen Keller (28 goals, seven assists), an attack wing and senior Caroline Kosiba, a defensive midfielder who chipped in with three goals and 10 assists, also earned All-Conference honors. Kosiba was also a key figure on groundballs and getting the offense moving with crisp passes.

“I knew we had athletes,” Aragona said. “They could run and jump. They loved to play.”

Freshman Nicole Russell took the field at a number of positions, including defensive midfield, on the way to scoring 10 goals and adding 11 assists and was named Clarke’s Unsung Hero, while senior Nicole Zaino, a first-year lacrosse player, earned Scholar-Athlete honors. Senior high attack Erica Sandorf missed last season due to injury but returned in a big way this spring (15 goals and 13 assists) with junior Hayley Anderson (five goals, five assists) also part of the offensive mix.