With its 19-7 thumping of York Suburban on Thursday, the Kennard-Dale girls' lacrosse team maintained its status as the only YAIAA school yet to lose to a league opponent. The Rams (7-2 overall) are 4-0 in Division II competition and have two more wins against Division I opponents.
I asked senior Hana Krechel, whose four goals against the Trojans was second only to the six by teammate Aliza Holmes (above), what sets Kennard-Dale apart from the rest of the teams in the YAIAA.
"I feel like a lot of the other teams in the league have certain star players and we work well as a core," Krechel said. "We trust each other and we trust everybody on the team, so it's easy to make passes. We trust our defense. We have a really solid defense and our goalie (Summer Baer) can make a lot of great saves. We trust them to bring the ball up and pass it around.
"I just feel like we have a lot of depth and a lot of trust in each other."
Those two elements have made the Rams the front-runner to win the YAIAA. Now they just have to make sure they have enough to contend in district competition. Kennard-Dale has had mixed results during its three games against Lancaster County opponents, beating Warwick, 12-5, at home, but losing 17-9 against Penn Manor and 18-5 against Manheim Township on the road.
Kennard-Dale coach Kelly Wetzel said the Rams are working at a disadvantage when they play those schools from across the river
"Those teams have been playing as school-sponsored teams for four or five years," Wetzel said. "They are bigger schools -- Penn Manor doubles our size and Manheim Township does as well, so they have more athletes to draw from. I can't take anything away from those teams, though -- they are fast and don't drop the ball."
The Rams could easily see one of those teams again in district and state competition. Wetzel said there is only one classification for girls' lacrosse because of the number of schools (or lack thereof) across the state that sponsor the sport.
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