IHS girls continuing tradition of success

Ithaca High School girls lacrosse came into the season seeking a fourth consecutive Section IV Championship. However, to do so, they’ll have to overcome some challenges. Last year’s team was loaded with high-level talent, with five players from that squad now playing in college, three of which are at the Division I level. They also have a new coach, as assistant coach Kaitlyn Hoffay has stepped up to the head coaching role this season, replacing BJ Bliss.

The Little Red have not slowed down one bit, though. The team owns a 5-1 record, outscoring the four Section IV teams they’ve faced 80-11. The team has been led by a strong attacking group featuring seniors Shea Baker, Zola Vesci, Madison Sornberger and junior Julia Blakeslee. Goals have come in bunches for the team, and Vesci talked about the key to the team’s offense.

“The main thing is just the chemistry that I have with my teammates,” Vesci said. “Scoring goals is one thing, but I think most of my goals are off teammates just knowing where I’m going to be at certain times and just reading each other really well is really helpful. It’s definitely my teammates that I’ve played with for a long time and also the new teammates, the underclassmen on my team, and the chemistry that we have so far that was built in such a short amount of time.”

Behind Vesci and the offense is a strong defense in front of freshman goalie Olivia Frazier. Lucy Getzin, Madelyn Little, Gianna Varma and Laila Lima all bring different levels of experience but have come together to make a defensive unit that is difficult to penetrate.

“We actually kind of have a strange group on our defense,” Hoffay said. “We have two returners, one’s a sophomore and one’s a junior, that played a great deal last season but didn’t have to be leaders on the team or on the defense. Now, they’re stepping up into that role. We also have a senior, Lucy Getzin, who played JV for me a couple years ago and then decided to come back out for lacrosse in her senior year after not playing for a couple of years. Then, we have a freshman, Madelyn Little.”

The schedule is a bit different this year, as Ithaca is only playing their in-conference opponents once each. They’ve filled in the gaps with three games against teams from the Syracuse area in which they went 1-2. Hoffay talked about the benefit of seeing different teams.

“The teams out of our section that we’re playing are very talented teams,” Hoffay said. “They’re used to playing a full schedule of really competitive games. For us, it’s just seeing those as challenges and seeing teams that we can compete with, and really believing that we can compete with them. We are really excited to be able to have more competitive games during the regular season, traveling to Section III, for example.”

In the section, the scores have been lopsided in favor of Ithaca for the most part, but you wouldn’t be able to come to that conclusion based on the attitude the team has on gameday.

“I think that the energy that we bring to games is that we’re never expecting to win,” Vesci said. “We’re not going into it thinking that it’s going to be an easy game. Our energy and the intensity that we come with in every game, I think, has been really successful. We bring it to practice and you can tell just the improvement that we’ve made because of the energy that we have. We all want to be there. We’re all looking to get better.”

Being this consistently great at a sport is not easy, but Ithaca girls lacrosse has cracked the code. Even through a coaching transition, the spirit of the team remains unchanged.

“The family aspect of our team culture, that definitely plays a larger role than you might think, along with the fact that a lot of our girls have been playing together for so long,” Vesci said. “We’ve grown up all together and played together. Our coaching staff definitely needs to be mentioned. My coach, coach [Kaitlyn] Hoffay, the certain things that she values like family and just creating connections so that you can play together to your best.”

This year will be the first time since 2019 that there will be a State Championship in lacrosse. That fact makes this year very important for the eight seniors on the team.

“It means everything,” Hoffay said. “It’s what we work for every day. They’re definitely excited about it. This is a group seniorwise that I’ve had for a long time. Shea [Baker] first played for me on JV in seventh grade. I’ve been coaching them for a very long time. It’ll be fun to compete for that sectional title again with this group.”

The quest for a fourth consecutive title will continue April 22, when the Little Red host Section IV opponent Chenango Valley. Owning a 5-2 record, Vesci and the Little Red are showing no signs of slowing down.

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