Saint Stephen’s ‘Skeleton Crew’ breezes into girls lacrosse district final

She calls them the “Skeleton Crew.”

It’s an apt nickname LeeAnn Fronckowiak has bestowed upon her Saint Stephen’s team, with its replacement-parts-turned-full-time-starters and a bench made barren by injuries or illness. When the Falcons are at full strength, the head coach has 19 players. At the District 17 semifinals Wednesday in Sarasota, Fronckowiack was limited to 16.

“Well, 15 1/2,” the fourth-year head coach quickly clarifies. Ashleigh Rodhouse is dealing with an ankle injury.

“We’ve been bare bones all season,” Fronckowiak said.

Saint Stephen’s postseason still began with a rout at The Ram Bowl. The Falcons barreled past Cardinal Mooney, 17-5, with the clock running through all but the first 13 seconds of the second half at Riverview High School to reach Friday’s district championship against Out-of-Door Academy back at Riverview.

The Thunder held off Sarasota Riverview 13-11 in the second game of the doubleheader in Sarasota.

Saint Stephen’s laundry list of injuries could stand with the worst of any team. Emily Hiebner, a projected senior starter on attack, was medically disqualified for the season after suffering her 10th concussion during soccer season. Another player had an appendix issue. And then there’s the more standard fare — a knee injury here, an ankle injury there and a few seasonal illnesses.

The answer has been improvisation. The Falcons (10-3) committed to keeping five players at a time back on defense — teams are only required to keep three — to conserve energy during a game they had in hand early. With extra space to operate against the Cougars (1-12), midfielder Katie Pierce racked up 10 points for Saint Stephen’s (five goals, five assists). Attack Baylee Barker scored five times, and midfielder Kendall Miller finished with four points.

No matter how shorthanded the Falcons are, a trio like that can carry an offense.

“Our offense works better when we’re a man down because we’re more spread out,” Fronckowiak said. “There’s always a rhyme to my reason or my craziness and they know that.”

Whether that means something as seemingly unorthodox as willingly playing shorthanded for stretches up top or nudging goaltender Kristyn Weaver to come out of the net more aggressively and chase ground balls, which Fronckowiak has also done, Saint Stephen’s has found ways to manage around some of the unavoidable challenges that have hit the Falcons this year.

Saint Stephen’s latest obstacle Friday will be facing an Out-of-Door team head coach Merin Babich said is far different than the one the Falcons saw twice during the first three games of the Thunder’s season.

Babich had only been with ODA a few weeks when the season began. Out-of-Door used a vanilla game plan and it made for a pair of double-digit losses.

“I was still learning the girls’ names,” Babich said.

But the Thunder (6-7) began the district tournament with an upset. ODA led wire-to-wire, fending off a late three-goal burst by the Rams (4-4) to reach the district final. Attack Hannah Greenblott paced Out-of-Door’s offense with six goals to give the Thunder the third shot at Saint Stephen’s the Thunder has coveted.

“Saint Stephen’s has no idea how we play,” Babich said, “and we’re looking forward to showing them.”

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Saint Stephen’s ‘Skeleton Crew’ breezes into girls lacrosse district final."