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54 | March 22, 2018 | The frankfort station sports frankfortstation.com LW lacrosse makes IHSA debut Steve Millar Freelance Reporter March 14 was a night Maggie Huizinga had waited a long time for. The Lincoln-Way coop lacrosse team opened its season at home against Naperville Central, for the first time taking the field at Lincoln-Way Central as a school-sponsored team playing an official IHSA sport. Boys and girls lacrosse is making its debut as an IHSA sport this season and Huizinga, a senior at Lincoln- Way East, couldn’t be more excited. “It makes us more proud,” she said. “We’ve always represented our schools, but now our schools recognize us. Being able to wear that Lincoln-Way name means a lot, especially because the schools have had so much success in other sports. It’s a prestigious name. “This is my last season, and I want to help start something that’ll hopefully last for a long time. We want to be the founders of a great team and the stepping stones for something great going forward.” The debut was an auspicious one. Sophomore Caroline Behrens scored six goals, Huizinga added four and Lincoln-Way pulled away late for a 14-5 win. “There are a lot of eyes on us now since we’re the new official sport, and we have expectations we need to uphold,” Huizinga said. “We went out there and delivered. I was really happy with how we went out there and performed.” Lincoln-Way coach Wei Chenh was equally pleased. “We had a lot of teamwork on the field,” she said. “We can definitely work on communication a bit more, but we supported each other as teammates and that was good to see.” Wednesday was an exciting night as well for Chenh, who’s been involved with lacrosse in Illinois since high school. She played for Lane Tech from 2001 to 2004 and went on to play at Lindenwood University in Missouri. She’s coached at Lane Tech and Robert Morris College and, most recently, for the Eagles co-op team, which has players from Sandburg, Andrew and Stagg. “Now that it’s an IHSA sport, it’s even more exciting,” Chenh said. “I’ve been around for a while and to see the sport growing like this is great to see. If we can get more officials and people who are willing to coach, I can see the sport really taking off in the Midwest.” Behrens, a Lincoln-Way East student, led the team in scoring last season with 81 goals, and she picked up right where she left off Wednesday, finding the net twice in the opening six minutes to give Lincoln-Way a 2-0 lead. “I love getting our team going,” she said. “I love encouraging everyone to go out there and give it their all and push them to new heights. We came out and got rolling right from the start.” Behrens, who scored again 19 minutes in to put Lincoln- Way up 4-2, said she has to make some adjustments now that opponents know all about her and focus on slowing her down. “I just have to focus on my fundamentals and knowing what I can do,” she said. “It’s about believing in myself, not letting opponents get in Maggie Huizinga (right), a member of the Lincoln-Way co-op girls lacrosse team, carries the ball across the field March 14 during the team’s game against Naperville Central, while teammate Hannah Laverty follows close behind. Photos by Julie McMann/22nd Century Media Lincoln-Way’s Caroline Behrens (left) and Naperville Central’s Amanda Thomas battle for the ball. my head, and just working around what they do.” Naperville Central got within 5-4 with three minutes left in the first half, but Huizinga and Hayley Brothen, a senior at Lincoln-Way East, scored back-to-back goals to make it 7-4 at halftime. Lincoln-Way rolled in the second half, outscoring Naperville Central 7-1. “Halftime is when you tweak a few things to make it all connect,” Chenh said. “The girls pushed themselves to play even better in the second half.” After Naperville Central scored the first goal of the second half to cut it to 7-5, Lincoln-Way scored the final seven goals of the game. Behrens made it 8-5 before Huizinga scored backto-back goals to push the lead to five with just five minutes to go. “We practiced hard these last few days, coming together as a team with a bunch of new girls,” Behrens said. “We’re meshing well and really working together.” Grace Pawelczyk, Behrens, Brothen and Hannah Laverty all added goals in the final five minutes for Lincoln-Way. Pawelczyk and Laverty are both seniors at East. Elizabeth Myotte, a sophomore at East, made one save. Last year, in its final season as a club team, Lincoln- Way had its best season in the program’s history, going 11-6. Huizinga said the team developed a new level of confidence that’s carried over into this year. “Last year, we beat all expectations we had,” she said. “Every season we get better and better, so this season the sky’s the limit for us.” Delia Dohm, a junior at Lincoln-Way Central, was thrilled with the way her team played in its first game. “We’ve been strategizing a lot getting ready for this, and it felt good to finally get out there and put everything together,” she said. “I think we started out really well. There are still things to work on, but it was nice to see us all come together and play like we did.” Dohm said she and her teammates are like a family. “I feel like we all have a special connection to each other, even though we go to different schools,” she said. “It’s like anywhere you go, you have a friend.”
frankfortstation.com sports the frankfort station | March 22, 2018 | 55 fastbreak Frankfort athlete raises money to battle childhood cancer RANDY WHALEN Freelance Reporter 22nd Century Media file photo 1st-and-3 Three things to know about the Lincoln-Way - Naperville Central lacrosse game 1. Maggie Huizinga, a senior at Lincoln- Way East, scored four goals during the game, Lincoln- Way's first since lacrosse became an IHSA sport. 2. Caroline Behrens, scored twice in the first six minutes of the game to give Lincoln-Way a 2-0 lead. She scored a total of six goals that evening. 3. Elizabeth Myotte, a sophomore attending Lincoln- Way East, made one save during the game. At a young age, Bella Versetto is already a great golfer. More importantly, the 8-year-old Frankfort resident is doing other great things through golf. Versetto has already placed high in golf tournaments on a national level and will continue to play on that scale around the country this year. When she does, she will be raising money to battle childhood cancer through Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a charitable group that states its mission is "to change the lives of children with cancer through funding impactful research, raising awareness, supporting families, and empowering everyone to help cure childhood cancer." Alex's Lemonade Stand is named after Alexandra "Alex" Scott, who passed away at the age of eight from pediatric cancer. But her initial idea for a lemonade stand to help fight the disease at age four has now inspired and raised more than $1 million towards finding a cure for the disease that took her life. The organization funds more than 800 cuttingedge pediatric cancer research projects at 135 institutions, which are looking for a cure for the disease. Thankfully, Versetto is healthy and thriving. But what was instilled in her at a young age has been the driving force behind her joining this cause. "I like it a lot," Versetto said of the her contribution Bella Versetto was the runner-up in her age group at the Florida PGA National in West Palm Beech in January. to the cause, which she titled 'Bella drives for a cure.' "I like helping people." It was her mom, Krystyna, and dad, Nick, who planted that care and help of others into her at an early age. "This all stemmed from when she was little," Nick Versetto said. "We would go to places like Toys "R" Us or Target and buy toys and gifts and take them to places like children's hospitals. Bella wanted to do something more, something with her golf. So we researched it and came up with Alex's Lemonade Stand. "Then she was all excited to use her golf season for this." Taking the toys to the kids gave Bella a sense of giving and compassion. "Yes, I liked doing that," she said of visiting the children's hospital. "I liked that [the kids] got to play with the toys and do things like us." Bella also likes that she's now able to tie her golfing in with helping the kids too. She gets lots of opportunities to meet a lot of people and is already good at networking her cause. "Mostly when I get to play with new players and make new friends," she said of what she enjoys about the game. "Sometimes just talking bout it [the cause] makes them interested. We have it so people can make their own [ball marking] chips and start their own charities." When the 'Bella drives for a Bella Versetto, 8, practices her swing. The Frankfort golfer is raising money to battle childhood cancer through Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. Photos submitted cure' page started last November in conjecture with Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation and Kick It, the goal was to raise $500. That goal has nearly been reached and she certainly hopes to continue to raise awareness and surpass it. How it works is as she plays in tournaments throughout the country this year, people can pledge a dollar amount for each time she shoots a birdie or par on a hole. The totals are then added up for the season. "She wants to get others involved," Nick Versetto said. When she was 6, Bella took one golf lesson and was hooked from there. With the help of coaches Suzie Owens and Kevin Weeks, she's one of the top golfers in the country in her age bracket. She was runner-up at the Florida PGA National in West Palm Beech in January. Then in Dallas on March 3 and 4 of this month, she won the Future Champions Golf Texas Championships. She will participate in the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships in mid July. Residents interested in donating to her cause or finding out more information can find the "Bella drives for a cure" page online or meet her from 7-10 a.m. on Saturday, March 31, when she will have a table set up at Dunkin' Donuts at 11212 W. Lincoln Highway in Mokena. Listen Up What 2 Watch Index “We had a lot of teamwork on the field,” she said. “We can definitely work on communication a bit more, but we supported each other as teammates and that was good to see.” Wei Chenh — Lincoln-Way girls lacrosse coach Boys water polo Hosts Lincoln-Way Central, Tuesday, March 28, 10 a.m. • The Griffins play a home game against the Knights in a Lincoln-Way matchup. 49 — This Week In... 48 — Athlete of the Week FASTBREAK is compiled by Editor Nuria Mathog, nuria@frankfortstation.com.
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