On Wednesday, April 30th, the Zeeland Girls Varsity Lacrosse team took on Mona Shores on their home field. The Sailors held a tough offense, putting up many shots on goal against the Birds. Zeeland’s goalie, Sr. MJ Romero, had ten saves throughout the game. Soph. Audrina Knoper led the Birds with seven shots on goal, Sr. Audrey Durham contributed with six, and Jr. Madison Helder attempted three.

At half time, the Birds trailed the Sailors 0-7. Coach Brooke VanderStelt stated, “Their goalie is very quick and very intense. We really struggled with placing the ball in the right spot.”

The Birds never gave up, but their efforts fell short against Mona Shores' defense.

Knoper reflected, “We attempted to play our best as a team, but we fell apart in the end. I’m proud of the team's effort and our ability to remain good sports.”

The Girls Varsity Lacrosse team will go on to play against Kalamazoo Central High School on Friday, May 2. 

The Zeeland Girls' Lacrosse Team dominated 19-2 in their game on Friday (April 25) against Jenison High School. Zeeland West player Saige Canfield said, “Going into this game, we knew from past experience it would be one of our easier games, but we still put our best foot forward and pushed until the end. We tried out new things and let girls who haven't scored yet get a chance to. Overall, it went well.” Leading the team statistically was Sr. Audrey Durham with 7 points, Skylar Hundley with 2 assists, and Maggie Albrecht with 5 ground balls.

At half-time, the girls were leading 14-1. Coach Brooke Vanderstelt stated, “It was a great game for us. We were able to put our best foot out there and make sure all of our players got a chance to play. It was a really good, high-scoring game.”

The Birds held strong in offense and defense, leading to their dominating win.

The Zeeland East varsity lacrosse team has a home conference game vs. Mona Shores (Norton Shores, MI) on Wednesday, April 30 @ 6p.

The Zeeland Girls Lacrosse Team lost to Hudsonville 15-19 at home Wednesday night. Zeeland had a slow start in what eventually became a high-scoring game with only a single goal in the first quarter scored by Soph. Audrina Knoper. The game started to speed up in the second quarter as Zeeland scored four additional goals, ending the half with a score of 5-7. The game stayed extremely competitive in the second half as Zeeland flexed their offensive prowess, finishing the game with a season high 15 goals. Coach Brooke VanderStelt remarked, “Hudsonville is one of our toughest competitors and we definitely were able to stand our ground and be really competitive with them tonight, and that was an awesome feeling.” 

Sr. Audrey Durham used her impressive speed, acceleration, and cradling skills to score a career high eight goals against Hudsonville’s defense, making up for over half of Zeeland’s goals Wednesday night. Durham expressed, “We played really good as a team, pushed through, and got the score really close. We lost, but it’s one of the best games we’ve played all season.”

Another notable performance was made by Knoper, as she scored four goals against Hudsonville. Knoper stated, “We all fought really hard, and we worked really well as a team.” The rest of the team filled up the stat sheet as well, as Sr. MJ Romero had ten saves as goalie, Jr. Madison Helder scored two goals, and Sr. Saige Canfield scored one goal.

On Friday April 18, Zeeland Girls Varsity Lacrosse hosted Grand Rapids Christian High School at Zeeland Stadium. The girls fought hard and held a tough defense against the Eagles, while also keeping up offensively. With many shots on goal, the Birds were able to score 8 points. Leading scorer was Sr. Audrey Durham with 5 points. Also scoring for the Birds was Soph. Audrina Knoper with 2 points and Sr. Ava Knott with 1 point. The Birds ended the game losing 8-16. Sr. Mia Wroblewski ended the game with 11 saves. 

At the end of the first quarter, the Birds trailed 3-5. Coach Brooke VanderStelt shared, “We started off super strong but kind of fell apart in the second quarter. As we played that second half, we brought it back together and played as a team.”

The Birds fought hard defensively in the second half forcing GRCHS to respond heavily offensively.

Durham stated, “We fought really hard and kept in the game. I think we worked really well as a team and pushed through the end.”

The Girls Varsity Lacrosse team will go on to compete against Grand Haven Monday April 21st. 

The Zeeland Girls Lacrosse Team lost to Byron Center 4-18 on the road Wednesday evening. The game in Byron Center opened up with an early Zeeland goal by Sr. Ava Knott, followed by eight Byron Center goals to close out the 1st quarter. 

Coach Brooke VanderStelt stated, “It was a little bit of a difficult game for us. We tried our best to hold it together as a team, and we’re going to take this, learn from it, and do better the next game.” As the bitterly cold night went on, Zeeland fell further behind. Zeeland continued to fight back with three goals distributed among three players: Sr. Audrey Durham, So. Audrina Knoper, and Sr. Saige Canfield.

 Durham remarked, “It was a pretty difficult game for us, but we kind of just stuck with it. They pushed us to our limit, but we gave it everything we got and fought to the end.”