Caroline Leland wants to always be in the best position to try to score, and the Fox Chapel girls lacrosse team needed any edge it could find this season. The Section 2-3A race was a tight one and the Foxes’ final section matchup with Shaler was vital for second place.
Leland scored six goals to help Fox Chapel hold off the Titans, 12-9, on May 5 on the road to avoid finishing in a three-way tie for second.
“The main thing is getting my stick away from the defender,” Leland said. “I think I’ve been working on trying to catch the ball with the defender on so I can be a bigger threat. I think I’ve been working well with Caroline Grimsley. We know where each other are going.”
Fox Chapel coach Kellee Cribby said Leland, who topped 100 career goals earlier this season, has impressed her with her tenacity.
“She’s super relentless,” Cribby said. “She’s always working super hard, whether she has the ball or doesn’t have the ball. Because of that effort she puts into her game, she creates a ton of opportunities. She scores a lot, but also it opens up a lot of things all over the field.”
Had Fox Chapel lost to Shaler, it would have finished in a three-way tie with Moon and Shaler for second place. The Foxes (11-2, 7-1) only lost once in section to first-place Pine-Richland.
Fox Chapel has been stout defensively, only conceding 5.9 goals per game this season. On offense, the Foxes have averaged 12.1 goals per contest.
Cribby said that Lydia Demotte’s play in net has allowed Fox Chapel to be more aggressive on defense. When the Foxes are applying more pressure to create scoring opportunities, they aren’t necessarily too worried about being caught going the other way.
“She does a great job of giving us the second opportunity,” Cribby said. “She’ll make a save, and it gives us a chance to find our footing and get organized on defense. We play a high-pressure defense. It’s a bit riskier, so having that strength in goal helps us to be able to take those risks.”
Fox Chapel had a hard time getting started because of delays and cancellations due to the weather. Leland says everything is starting to come together.
“Especially on the draw,” Leland said. “I think Zehra (Ozkaya), Brooke (Leone) and I are working together and switching it up if something’s not right. I think our transition is getting better. We are able to get it down at a faster pace and beat the defender.”
Fox Chapel has started to heat up as it heads toward the WPIAL playoffs. Cribby said the Foxes’ diversity on offense will take them a long way.
“We’ve been working on being more consistent on our attacking looks and making sure that we have a lot of options because we face so many different types of defenses,” Cribby said.