Lacrosse has caught on quickly at Saint Stephen's

BRADENTON -- Matt Goeders has been a goalie in soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse. Undoubtedly, lacrosse brings him the most pain, he said, but that's why it's his favorite sport.

"It's part of the fun," Goeders said. "In ice hockey you are completely padded up and you don't really feel the shots. In soccer the ball is not going to hurt you. It sure does hurt in lacrosse, but that's the fun."

Goeders has used his enthusiasm to help propel the game, which became an FHSAA-sanctioned sport four years ago at Saint Stephen's.

Goeders wears a helmet and mask, which absorb some of the shock.

The rest of his gear is more like a foot soldier's shirt compared with an armored tank. As a goalie, he says, you can't run away from anything.

"Without my helmet I would get be getting a lot of concussions. I am often getting hit in the face. it's a good way to stop shots," Goeders said.

Goeders gets hit numerous times during a game, but has hung in there and doesn't shy away from the action.

"He makes a lot of saves, probably a lot more than he should have to because we are still learning how to protect and he is tremendous in the goal," said Jamie Carver, the head boys lacrosse coach at Saint Stephen's.

While the sport is new to Saint Stephen's, it's old hat

for Carver, who grew up with the game and played the sport at the University of Maryland.

"I always call lacrosse the great equalizer," Carver said. "You don't have to be big as you can see with me. I am not 6-5, 250 pounds, but I played Division I lacrosse. The key to being successful is working hard and having athleticism and quickness. But the most important thing is heart."

Though being tall is not a necessity, the Falcons' leading scorer Ali Sammour, who is 6-feet-4 and plays basketball, says it can be an advantage.

"It helps me being tall because I can shoot over most defenders," he said. "But I like the sport because it is fast-paced and always moving, and you are out there with your friends."

Anthony Matteo, senior captain, started playing lacrosse in the seventh grade when it was a club sport at Saint Stephen's, and has helped build the foundation.

"We started as a club and moved it up and have been growing the program and trying to get people to come out," Matteo said. "I like it because of the teamwork involved and the strength that it takes to become a good player. Once you get into it, it's a lot of fun and the learning curve is easy."

Girls lacrosse at Saint Stephen's is new but is starting to catch on quickly. It became a varsity sport in 2013 and the team has advanced to the district championship game in the past two years.

LeeAnn Fronckowiak is in her third year as the Falcons' head coach. She played the game growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., and later coached and officiated.

"When I came here the oldest girls on the varsity were four freshman. It was a little bit and we had to take a step back and recalibrate to accommodate the age," Fronckowiak said. "Now our team is getting mature and our oldest girls are juniors who are the leaders of the team."

Emily Hiebner, a junior, sophomores Baylee Barker and Katie Pierce, and freshman Katie Miller were named to the All District team last year.

There is less contact allowed in girls' lacrosse, compared with the boys' game, and that makes it more of sport based on finesse and fundamentals, Fronckowiak said.

"I started playing in the fourth grade and when I came to Saint Stephen's they had it, and so I played in middle school with a lot of girls who are on the varsity now," Hiebner said. "I like it because it's a contact sport, but we are not allowed to hit each other."

Barker, the Lady Falcons' leading scorer, spends a lot of time on her craft and likes the girls' game better because, she says, it takes more skill.

"I usually spend about two hours every weekend taking about 500 shots, so it takes a lot of work outside of practice to get those good eight-meter shots down," Barker said.

Alan Dell, Herald sports columnist/writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter @ADellSports

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Lacrosse has caught on quickly at Saint Stephen's ."