Lacrosse notes: Crystal Lake co-op, Naperville North see surge in numbers

The Crystal Lake Central Co-op girls lacrosse team has been ranked as high as third in the state this season, according to MaxPreps.

That puts the team in the same discussion as superpowers like Loyola, New Trier and Hinsdale Central. But there's one big difference: The team culls players from four schools - Crystal Lake Central and South, Cary-Grove and Prairie Ridge.

So how does a co-op team with that many schools find itself so successful?

According to senior Maddi Lieflander, it's not the schools that count - it's the number of players.

"This year we had 100 girls try out," said Lieflande, who attends Crystal Lake South. "It's great. Girls who never played before (are out). This is probably the best team I've been a part of."

The Co-op started out 6-0, including 16-7 thumping of Fremd in the first game of the season, a squad it had never beaten. Strange as it seems, that game may have been the turning point for a team that went 19-5 a year ago and advanced all the way to an IHSA supersectional.

"After that first game, I knew we had something special," coach Joe Capalbo said. "Our No. 1 goal is to win the sectional and if we can do that, we want to get down to state this year."

The team has plenty of firepower toward that end. It returns its top four goal scorers from last season - Lieflander, junior Colleen Dunlea, and sophomores Addie Bechler and Fiona Lemke. Now add highflying freshman Anna Starr into the mix, who started her season with 17 goals and 5 assists, and you'll probably agree with Capalbo that something big is brewing up north.

"I call them the Fab Five," Capalbo said. "They can do everything with goals and assists."

The Co-op finished last season ranked 15th in state, so landing in the top five this season has been a big jump. But while Lieflander admitted "it was a big deal," she and her teammates are keeping perspective.

"We know there are teams that are better than us," she said. "We talked about it."

Numbers big at Naperville North, too:

Heading south, another school continuing its trend with record numbers is Naperville North, led by coach Jessica Hogan. The Huskies are the only school in the DuPage Valley Conference with three levels, and have 78 girls registered. That's up from 60 in 2021, the first after the lost 2020 COVID-19 season.

Similar to Crystal Lake Central Co-op, Naperville North pulls in players from other sports. And when Hogan says other sports, she really means it.

"We try to get ice hockey players," she offers as an example. Not surprisingly, field hockey is another big source of players. But that's nowhere near all.

"We had some figure skaters, some equestrian girls," she said. "(They say), I like the people on the team and I'd like to try something new."

Consider this as well. Senior Grace Carsello is a member of Naperville North's Girls Autos Club and formerly a member of the robotics club.

What does she bring from those experiences?

"I would say something that's important is time management and working on a team," Carsello said. "You are always working toward something, like being a good lacrosse player or building a robot."

Another factor is that lacrosse is a no-cut sport at North, but a big key is the summer camp that Hogan and her current varsity players run, which is how senior attacker Annie Whittwer got involved back in fifth grade.

"That's where I kind of learned how to play from the older girls and coach Hogan," she said. "That really inspired me to start finding teams and leagues when I got to high school."

Growth apparent at Wheaton North:

Just before the lost 2020 COVID-19 season, the Wheaton North boys were under 30 participants across the entire program. But that number is now over 50, and part of the reason is a change in philosophy by coach Chris Weed and his staff.

"We had to take a look at what we were doing and come up with a better way," Weed said. "We stopped hammering on the fundamentals, and now we're letting guys play. They are having fun, interacting with each other. They are learning the game on the fly."

It's working. The Falcons started the season 4-0, and Weed is seeing longer possession times and fewer turnovers.

Wheaton North is led by football quarterback Max Howser, who started his junior season with 18 points (15 goals and 3 assists) after playing a background role last year.

"Max is our offensive general," Weed said. "Coming off the football season, the thing that was helping him is the confidence. He's not the fourth or fifth guy out there."

Other keys for the Falcons are senior midfielder Kyle Both, who took faceoffs last season. He's shifted into an offensive role and sophomore Nick Sanguinetti has taken over faceoff chores and is winning 56 percent so far.

Another is freshman defender Dylan Van Demend, with whom Weed and his coaching staff worked with over the summer. He started on the JV team but has since been bumped up to varsity and is contributing there.