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Sandy Journal

Alta girls lacrosse builds throughout season

May 25, 2018 01:36PM ● By Ron Bevan

Marley Webster makes a move on Jordan’s defense during Alta girls lacrosse action. (photo by Ron Bevan)

By Ron Bevan | [email protected]

By many accounts, it could have been a throwaway season for the Alta girls lacrosse team. With only one senior and a handful of players with varsity experience, the Hawks looked ripe for picking.

But instead, Alta got through the first part of the season and began to soar as the year progressed. The Hawks ended the season with a 9-4 record and an appearance in the state playoffs.

“We saw a lot of improvement from all of the girls, especially the freshmen on the team,” Alta assistant coach Madison Brown said. “Their agility and how they handled their sticks grew with each game.”

Alta entered the 2018 season with just one senior, Hannah Ludlow, on its roster. Although Ludlow is an aggressive scorer from the attack position, she would need some of the underclassmen to step up to help make her final season at Alta a success.

“Ludlow was our captain for this season,” Brown said. “She was a great motivator for the younger players and kept the team very positive.”

But Ludlow didn’t just sit back and try to keep the other players learning for the future. She led by example, scoring 17 goals on the season.

“She was one of our top scorers,” Brown said. “She is fast and her attitude when she is on the field is contagious to the other players.”

Alta was led in scoring, however, by Marin Lowry, a promising junior who found the back of the net 31 times this season. Lowry also assisted on 12 other goals.

Lowry was also the player the Hawks turned to for all draws, or the beginning of play after each score. In lacrosse, two opposing players hold the ball between the nets on their sticks in a face-off style start. When the official blows the whistle, they try to maintain control of the ball for their team.

“Lowry is very dominating on the draw,” Brown said. 

Just behind Lowry on the scoring leaderboard is Majena Horoba, a sophomore on the team with a quick stick. Horoba scored 28 goals this season and tallied 17 assists.

“Horoba is a very smart player for her age,” Brown said. “She is very dedicated and loves to assist others as much as score.”

Alta got a lot of help this season from a newcomer as well. Freshman Eliza Johnson put in 17 goals and solidified her spot on the varsity team for the next three years.

“You usually don’t see scoring like that from a freshman in this sport,” Brown said. “She is going against players much bigger than her. But she is a sneaky player. She knows her way through defenders.”

While the team may have lost out to Weber in the first round of this year’s playoffs, losing just one senior gives Alta hope for the next few years.

“We have a lot of very good players that earned a lot of experience this season,” Brown said. “The future looks bright for us.”