MIA Girls Notch First-Ever Home Win

Every once in a while a Marco Island Academy team captures magic in a bottle at the Jane Watt Sports Complex. Friday night, March 7, was one of those nights as the Rays’ fledgling girls lacrosse team scored an impressive 11-7 win over visiting Estero behind a nine-goal effort from senior Brianna McGowan.

“It’s just awesome,” said Kyle Ginther, second-year head coach, “it’s our first home win in program history. The girls played so well. It’s just awesome to get our first win on our home field. The first of many.”

The Rays (2-1) scored twice before the fans had settled into their seats, but Estero (4-4) closed the gap to 3-2 with 3:44 left in the first quarter. The Rays led 5-4 at halftime and stretched their lead to 7-4 following a goal by McGowan with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, but Estero wasn’t done. The Wildcats scored twice to cut the gap to 7-6 with 3:37 left in the third quarter. A McGowen goal stretched the Rays’ lead to 9-6 with 9:08 left in the fourth quarter, and the route was on. Freshman Gracie Elliott and senior Jessica Vordesstraus also scored for the Rays. 

"Brianna McGowan is special for sure,” Ginther said. “She transferred here from up north this year. She was a star on the basketball team. She's just super athletic. But the most important thing is she's super humble, and she’s willing to pass. A lot of times you get a girl that’s that good and she just wants to shoot all night. But she was passing the ball around. She digs for ground balls and she's an effort player. She's an A+ all the way around."

Vordesstraus is another team leader.

"Jessica is super cool,” Ginther said, “because she started it. She helped start the team. She was the one that last year really helped me understand the game and helped the girls understand the game. So, it's cool that now we have someone to kind of take a little bit of pressure off her in Brianna, so she can focus on just playing the game."

Many of the Rays’ players are just learning the game.

“It's a new game for a lot of us,” Ginther said. ‘We have girls returning from last year, but even then it's not a whole lot of experience. But we've got a pretty good solid core of four or five girls that have previous club experience. But most of the girls are brand new, which makes it even so much cooler. Some of the girls, like Meghan Donaldson, started last year. Our goalie, Lily Tessarzik, is amazing. She's the best. The team reacts to her. It's like if she is feeling it like she was tonight, the whole team is gonna follow."

Ginther said Tessarzik has special leadership qualities.

"I think it's her willingness to lead and really be that focal point,” Ginther said. “Sometimes I think her best trait is not just saying the good things. She's able to criticize herself or criticize other people but still comes off in a team-building way. It's not like she's attacking someone, but she's like, ‘Here's what we need to do.' She doesn't deflect blame or anything like that, and I think that's huge for a goalie. These girls love Lily."

Lacrosse is also a new sport to Ginther, who was a standout athlete as a student at MIA. But that was on the football field.

"I had no experience prior to last year,” Ginther said. “So, I'm learning. I have a great assistant coach in Wendy Daniels. She's taught the girls so much. They call her Mama Wendy for a reason. They love Mama Wendy. It's her energy and her story. She is friends with our girls' basketball coach, Bethann Baden. She just introduced her to me, and Wendy said, ‘Hey, I'd love to help out as much as I can.' And I've loved it. I've embraced it."

The Rays host Cypress Lake on Tuesday, March 18, at 5:30 PM. Ginther would love to see the community show up to see his team in action.

“They should come out and watch the girls,” Ginther said, "because, number one, these are the girls that are serving you in the community. A lot of them have jobs. They're scooping your ice cream—we have so many girls that scoop ice cream. They're bagging your groceries. Come see the effort that they put into it. Because no matter what happens, it's going to be a fun game. We have fun. And that's why the community should come and watch them."