The Ranger girls varsity lacrosse program took down the Caledonia Fighting Scots 16-9 on Friday, April 16th. Sophomores Shannon Murphy, Gabby Hendricks, and Delaney Smith, along with junior Julia Brown, put on a clinic against the Fighting Scots of Caledonia. Together, they combined for 14 of the FHC’s 16 goals. Freshman Maggie Sneider also added two goals for FHC. In the end, the girls put 32 shots on the net throughout the entirety of the match and capitalized on half of their attempts. 

“I think the girls learned how to change up the game both on attack and defense,” Hendricks said when asked about the different defensive scheme Caledonia presented. “We can start building our game more comfortably with each other in our third game of the year.”

On the defensive end of the field, sophomore goalie Tori Bates proved to be a stalwart presence in goal and a difficult player to get the ball past. Bates saved 11 of 20 shots during the game, which kept the momentum in the hands of the Rangers. The stellar defense presented by junior Sophie Hartl and freshman Grace Barber, who both forced turnovers and took away Caledonia’s opportunities for shots, also helped FHC stop the Fighting Scots offensive attack.

Although FHC has won its fair share of games this inaugural season, head coach Zoe Mamo is still stressing “the little things’’ to her team day in and day out to ensure her team can keep up its impressive 2020-2021 campaign.

“Similar to the Rockford game, the little mistakes that still need to be focused on and cleaned up,” commented coach Mamo. 

FHC’s next game is Monday, April 19, against arch-rival and former teammates to some, Forest Hills Northern. Like Forest Hills Central, the Huskies have created their own girls lacrosse program as well this year. This will be the first of many meetings between the two Forest Hills schools, and both are hungry to start the program off the right way by beating their rival.

“We know that most of the girls play club [lacrosse] together, so they have really good team chemistry,” Gabby Henricks said. “That definitely showed when they beat a few Division One commits on Cranbrook a few days ago, so we are preparing ourselves for a really hard game.”