It appeared in January that Niagara Falls High School might not have a girls lacrosse team this year. They had six kids expected to come out for the team, well short of the minimum for a roster.
That is when Niagara Wheatfield High School stepped up and the two programs decided to co-op a month later. The two programs were coming together. They were going to come together as a new team, the Niagara Wheatfield/Niagara Falls Falcons.
“We talk about it nonstop, where we would be if we weren’t combined,” Niagara Wheatfield/Niagara Falls co-head coach Nick Frame said. “Obviously for us, we didn’t have enough girls for a team. So we’d all be at home right now if we didn’t combine. … It’s blended really well for us … the marriage has been perfect. The girls, they gel so well together, even from day one, … you could see it and you could feel it. They’ve done a really great job.”
The team has a mix of players from Niagara Falls and Niagara Wheatfield with six players from Niagara Falls and the 18 other girls coming from Niagara Wheatfield. The staff is not excluded from the sharing with the team having joint head coaches, Cory Turner from Niagara Wheatfield and Nick Frame from Niagara Falls.
As they headed into the season, Niagara Wheatfield was expected to have 30 players come out across the junior varsity and varsity levels.
Once the schools officially became a co-op the administrations put together the staff and the logistics. It was a process Turner called a “top-level tetris game.” They are not the first Section VI school to be a co-op though as this season there are three other co-ops fielding teams.
“It’s been great getting to know all of them,” Turner said. “… I think as is with any coaching or education, getting to know kind of what makes each girl tick a little bit and what motivates them individually and finding out how you can best use that to make them the best version of them they can be, not only on the field but also off the field and using that to help out our program.”
One of the factors that both coaches posit is a reason that their numbers are low is the fact that more girls are now trying out for flag football in recent years. But, the lacrosse team does have four girls that are playing both sports this year.
The team has spent most of their time this season at Niagara Wheatfield with one game, practice and scrimmage at Niagara Falls High School.
“Honeslty, it’s probably been the best thing that’s happened to the program in a very long time,” Niagara Wheatfield/Niagara Falls junior Makenna Doyle said. “And the connections, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that it’s two different schools. The connections on the field and off the field are insane. Everybody’s such good friends and the energy’s crazy.”
Last season, Niagara Falls went 10-7 overall while Niagara Wheatfield went 5-11. This season, the team started off on fire going 4-0 before they have struggled recently and are currently 5-3 overall and 3-1 at home.
One of the challenges that they faced is morphing their coaching philosophies and systems together and to get the players to understand the new system. But it has not been a very difficult transition for the players. From day one of tryouts the girls have gotten along and become close friends.
The Falcons are led by junior Doyle’s 29 goals, which comes one year after she had 39 goals in 10 games for Niagara Wheatfield. The team’s points leader is freshman Chailyn Seymour with 32 points while the team’s starting goalie is senior Ava Martell is 5-1 with a .447 save percentage and an 8.84 goals-against-average.
“I think individually and as a team, we’ve seen a lot of improvement from a ton of girls and me,” Doyle said. “… Overall, I think we’re definitely doing better as a team and there’s been a lot of amazing things happening.”
As they look forward, past this season, the agreement will be reassessed on a year-by-year basis. But there are no plans to cancel it anytime soon. It’s an agreement that both coaches want to continue into the future.
The team bonded immediately and love playing with each other. In fact, the only thing they say that has been difficult for them is the fact that they are injury ravaged this year. The team has had three players miss time with injuries and multiple others miss time with illness.
“It’s kind of the perfect marriage between both programs,” Turner said. “I think the chemistry between the girls has been what the girls refer to as electric. And they really lean on and (have) accepted each other. I think the Niagara Falls girls have done a tremendous job of taking things in stride and the Niagara Wheatfield girls have done a great job welcoming the Falls girls as well.”