Ithaca’s Baker named to WPLL Futures

Earlier this month, Ithaca girls lacrosse junior Shea Baker was one of 11 players selected to represent Syracuse on the Women’s Professional Lacrosse League (WPLL) Futures program. Players were chosen from 12 states (New York and California were each separated into two regions) and would have come together for a championship summit had it not been for COVID-19.

In a normal year, Baker would have gotten a lot out of the experience. At the two-day championship summit, the WPLL holds a leadership academy, individualized training from college coaches and WPLL players and competitions against some of the top high school lacrosse players across the nation. For this year, the accomplishment is in name alone, and Baker hopes to have a chance to go next year.

The selection process wasn’t straightforward for Baker due to a mistake on WPLL’s end. After being declined initially, the junior had to put in some extra effort to make sure she received the recognition she deserved.

“I asked for feedback on my application and they said, ‘Oh, sorry, we didn’t see your game film,’” Baker said. “They didn’t actually evaluate my application first, and then, I made it. I knew something was up because they responded quickly, and I guess they just must have missed my film.”

While she’ll have to wait for next year, Baker is looking forward to having the chance to get something out of the honor.

“It’s just a great opportunity, especially since I’m usually in upstate competing against the same girls a lot of the time,” Baker said. “It’s a great opportunity to see new faces and see how I can compete with other regions of the nation.”

Of course, Baker’s sophomore season with the Ithaca Little Red was canceled due to COVID-19. After scoring 15 goals in 18 games as a freshman in 2019, she was expected to play a key role on a team that had state championship expectations.

“It’s just fuel for the fire,” Baker said. “I’m lucky to have another chance at a high school season. I was heartbroken that I couldn’t play with these seniors. They’re a big part of our program. But I think this year, we’ll be just as successful. We still have some great seniors for this season. Hopefully, we get a chance to show people that.”

Baker comes from a lacrosse family. She was raised by Todd Baker, a former college lacrosse player, and Cristin Baker, and is the younger sister of Reed Baker, who is currently a member of the Nazareth College women’s lacrosse team. Shea, like Reed was, is a big part of the Ithaca girls hockey team as well. Her athletic upbringing makes her success in both sports no surprise.

“Just living in Ithaca, lacrosse was a big thing, obviously,” Shea said. “[My dad] was a big part of the Little Red program, so I was just brought up into lacrosse. He coached me throughout my childhood. For hockey, my dad just took me to one of the open skates when I was young, and I loved it so I just stuck with it.”

The fact that Shea could succeed in lacrosse clicked in her mind a few years ago when she was a member of Ithaca’s junior varsity girls lacrosse team.

“It started in probably seventh grade when I played JV,” Shea said. “I had a lot of confidence because I was playing with older girls and my coach, Kaitlyn Hoffay, was really empowering. That’s when I started to play bigger lacrosse, and it was just really eye opening.”

She’s built upon that confidence to have the successful first season that was mentioned earlier, culminating in a hat trick in the Section IV Championship against Corning in 2019. That’s the last victory Shea has been a part of, and so far, it’s the highlight of her career.

“That was a cherry on top,” Shea said. “It was actually my birthday too. That was the game we prepared for all season. Obviously, Corning’s always the rival. The stands were packed. All my friends were there, and [there was] just a lot of adrenaline, and I guess it helped me.”

Looking ahead to next season (that will hopefully happen), Shea’s been keeping busy playing three-on-three games with a few teammates. After the high expectations of last season were unable to be realized, Shea is hopeful that Ithaca will be able to show off its talent.

“I just hope we have a season, first off,” Shea said. “I really want to make it past the final four. Last year, Baldwinsville (the site of state regionals) held us up. I just want to make it further than that. And then winning states would be ideal. I’m just really excited to play with those girls. We have some really good top D1 commits, a lot of talent.”
Ithaca found out last season was not going to happen during the first week of practices, so the first practice for the upcoming year will be special.

“I hope the coaches plan something fun,” Shea said. “Nobody’s happy with what’s going on. So, a real practice is going to be great. Right before we got the news that our season was canceled, it was our first week of the season, and we finished with a terrible conditioning drill. So, we didn’t really have much fun before finding out the bad news. But [the first practice will be] full of energy. It’s going to be crazy.”

While it would have been a great experience for Shea to play alongside some of the best players in the nation at the WPLL’s Championship Summit, what truly matters to her is being able to play with her teammates again. For now, Shea’s focused on continuing to build her impressive resume.