The Coppell High School Girls Varsity Lacrosse Team began their 2015 season with wins over McKinney (13-7), Ursuline (16-7), and Plano (16-7) prior to Saturday’s big rematch against 2014 State Semi-Final foe Lamar (Houston). Last year, the Texans prevailed over the Cowgirls 13-8 to advance to the State Finals before falling to St Johns, the Division 1 Texas State Champions. This game, however, was all Coppell as the Cowgirls scored early and often to extend their season opening win streak to 4 games, the best start in the program’s 11 year history. Junior attacker Charlotte Hayden poured in 4 goals and added one assist to lead the Cowgirls offensive unit. Junior All-District midfielder Delaney Dendy found the back of the net 4 times as well while junior All-State midfielder Mia Harp netted 3 goals and added 7 ground balls as Coppell used their speed and crisp stick work to overwhelm the Texans defense. On the Defensive end for Coppell, All-State junior defender Kailey Rivera scooped up 5 ground balls (4 Draw Controls) to add to her team leading 35 GB’s on the season.
After a very successful 2014 campaign as North District runners up and State Semi-finalists, the Cowgirls have one of the deepest and most experienced rosters in the district. Also contributing on offense against the Texans were junior midfielder Ashley Bartlett, who added 2 goals and 4 GB’s, junior defensive midfielder Morgan Widener (1 goal, 3 GB’s), Rivera (1 goal, 5 GB’s), and freshman attacker Melissa Len (1 goal, 1 GB). Coppell outshot Lamar 42 to 8 for the game as the defense gave junior Cowgirl Goalie Berkeley Bonneau plenty of support. In her first year at the position, Bonneau continues to impress with another 4 saves vs 8 shots on goal from the Texans. Junior middie and Team Captain Elizabeth Sapp added 5 groundballs of her own as the Cowgirls out-hustled the visiting Texans by picking up 47 total GB’s to just 17 for Lamar.
The recent success for the Coppell Girls Lacrosse program should not be surprising given the strength of the current coaching staff. Now in her 3rd season at the helm is Head Coach Molly Ford. Coach Ford is a 3 time US Lacrosse All-American from Georgetown University and a US National Team Member. Assisting Ford on the sidelines is former Hoya teammate and First Team Big East honoree Kelsi Bozel. Bozel also serves as Head Coach of the Coppell JV squad. When asked about her team before the Plano game, Ford added, “The Coppell varsity lacrosse girls have pushed themselves throughout pre-season and it showed in their two wins against McKinney and Ursuline. The girls were slow to come out of the gate in both games but ended strong beating their opponents by 6 or more. Kailey Rivera has been our standout player with 20 ground balls, 10 draw controls and 6 caused turnovers … and Berkeley Bonneau has stepped up to make 14 saves between the two games keeping her save percentage at 50%.” Given the strong start to the season and the equally strong underclassmen on this squad, it’s clear Ford is happy with the progress her team has been making since last year, but far from content as she pushes to build the program into a consistent State Championship contender.
The Cowgirls will take their show on the road this Thursday evening for a Division 1 North District match against the Scots of Highland Park. The Cowgirls took 2 out of 3 from HP last season including a one-point North District Tournament semi-final victory. Considering the talent on these two squads, this may well be a preview of this year’s district final. Game times for Thursday are 6:00 pm for the JV and 7:30 pm for the Varsity. Check out the full schedule of upcoming games by visiting the Coppell Lacrosse Association website at www.coppell-lacrosse.com.