3-27-24 Ledger

page 10 Wednesday, March 27, 2024

• SOCCER

SPORTS

Red Arrow

By Justin Scott
sports reporter
Like their boys
counterparts in the fall, the
Lowell girls soccer program
will be led by one of the Red
Arrow goal-tending greats
headed into this season.
It all starts with the
back, as senior returning,
honorable-mention all-state
goaltender, Aubree Lee, and
the Red Arrows, take the
field this season. “Lowell
girls soccer is becoming
a stronger program every
season, and one of our
goals, is to consistently be
competing for, and winning,
championships,” Head
Coach, Joe Woodruff, told
The Ledger about his team
this season.
After a long week
of tryouts, an impressive
six sophomores and three
freshmen will not only be
on varsity, but will also
compete for playing time.
Lee, along with fellow

Soccer notches scoreless tie in frigid opener

four year varsity players,

Carmen Mika (MF), Ashley

Powell (FWD), and Reese

Carpenter (MF) will lead

the Arrows on the field this

year. In the season opener,

Lowell’s defense, and Lee,

kept Cedar Springs off the

scoresheet in a 0-0 draw.

The cold weather postponed

Wednesday’s game to

Thursday, but temperatures

were still frigid for the

season opener. The good

news, for Monday’s home

game against Calvin

Christian, temperatures

should be in the 50’s.

There’s few conferences

in the state in girls soccer

with the talent and depth

that the OK White has.

East Grand Rapids, FHC,

Byron Center, FHN, and GR

Christian, all will be stern

tests for Lowell, their last

season in the conference.

EGR were state runner-ups

last year.

They’ll do it without

two of their best players

from last season. WMU

women’s soccer commit,

RJ Wagamon, and LHS

junior, Gracyn Hamilton,

both will play Elite Club

National League soccer

this season with Midwest

United. The choice between

club and school for elite

soccer players is extremely

difficult, and plenty of

high-level soccer players at

LHS have had to make that

choice.

On Saturday, Lowell

held their program

fundraiser at the Lowell

VFW, just south of town on

Alden Nash. The fundraiser

included walking tacos, hot

dogs, drinks, and desserts,

a planned-out trivia game,

and plenty of donated items

that were raffled off or

included in a silent auction.

Plenty of items donated by

area businesses, parents, and

Lowell soccer earned a 0-0 draw on the pitch, and ran a program fundraiser

on Saturday. Pictured in Lowell’s Fundraiser at the VFW.

items such as Lowell soccer

t-shirts and wall-hangings

highlighted the fundraiser.

The program’s players

happily volunteered their

time to help the event flow

smoothly, part of the next

player up mentality the

program continues to instill.

“We continue to enrich

our culture of positivity

and plan to compete at

the highest level and earn

positive results,” Woodruff

concluded.

By Justin Scott
sports reporter
Thirteen Lowell
student-athletes signed at the
Red Arrow March signing
event, this past week, held
at the Lowell performing
arts center. Those student-
athletes are as follows.
Brady Swift -
Kalamazoo College,
football
JD Bacon - Albion,
lacrosse
Teige Bredin -
Kalamazoo College,
lacrosse

Arrow student-athletes

sign college commitments

Graham Boonstra -

Grand Valley State, lacrosse

Andrew Rogers -

Northwood, lacrosse

Jackson Reisbig -

Davenport, football

Bryce Thompson -

Northwood, soccer

Alex Winter -

Kalamazoo College,

football

Carter Szymanski -

Great Lakes Christian,

soccer

Lincoln Homolka -

Olivet, soccer

Xavier Young -

Davenport, football

Weston Godbold -

Hope, lacrosse

Gavin Barber - Calvin,

volleyball

Four other student-

athletes participated in

Lowell’s fall signing day

celebration, those were:

Aubree Lee - Tiffin,

soccer

Taryn Jackson -

Northwood, basketball

Braxcynn Baker -

Murray State, basketball

Piper Risdon - Vermont,

basketball

Photo courtesy of Lowell Athletic Department.

By Justin Scott

sports reporter

High school coaches

come and go, but for girls

lacrosse, it’s been tougher

to find consistency.

Counting this year, Lowell

will have had seven

coaches in the program’s

16 years. Jesse Vasquez

was Lowell’s longest

tenured coach, at six years,

who left to become the

varsity girls basketball

coach at Wyoming in 2022.

So a month before the

season, the program was

scrambling for a coach,

fearful of not having one

for the season. The 2020

season was canceled

(COVID), with plenty of

concern that the team could

lose their 2021 season to

COVID, and in 2024 with a

quick coaching turnaround.

Girls lacrosse begins year

In stepped Mallery Yaw, a

former LHS girls lacrosse

player, to the rescue. Now

Lowell is looking to a bright

future on the field, and

as a program, with eight

freshmen on the team this

season.

“We have Madie

Morgensen, last year’s

defensive MVP, and Hope

Kaminski, last year’s

offensive MVP. Our two

other seniors we have are

Sydnie Raab and Hannah

Johnson, who will both be

a huge asset to our team

on defense. We are excited

to see all that they will

accomplish this year, and as

coaches, we are impressed

with who these girls are as

individuals and role models

for our players,” Yaw told

The Ledger.

The Red Arrows started

the year with a 15-6 loss

to Caledonia, and losing

by nine isn’t a win, it is

improvement. Lowell lost

18-0 and 20-1 to the Fighting

Scots last year.

“Some other returners

that will also be key role

players, with experience,

are Kaci Reynolds, a

junior midfielder and draw

specialist, Paige Wilcox,

a sophomore attack, and

our sophomore goalie, Lyn

Melby. All of these players

have a tremendous work

ethic that pushes their

teammates around them to

be better,” added Yaw.

Lowell has games with

Grand Haven and Lansing

Catholic this week before

the spring break holiday.

By Justin Scott

sports reporter

During Lowell

wrestling’s banquet, the

team highlighted both their

talent on the mat and in the

classroom. Lowell’s top

14 wrestlers, in terms of

GPA, were Ari McFarland,

Weston McFarland, Cole

Cichocki, Owen Segorski,

Sawyer Wilder, Ben

Wrestlers win on

mat and classroom

Homolka, Braddock King,

Sawyer Hoff, Jarrett Smith,

Brady Smith, Marshall

Huhn, Carter Cichocki,

Cody Foss, and Mason

Saylor.

Six of those wrestlers

earned academic all-

state honors, which state

placement is required,

along with a high academic

threshold; Jarrett Smith,

Braddock King, Jarrett

Smith, Owen Segorski,

Carter Cichocki, and Cole

Cichocki.

Importantly, Lowell

finished with a team GPA of

3.91, earning team academic

all-state honors. The team

award is the fifteenth

straight year Lowell has

earned such an honor.