The North Oldham Lady Mustangs have jumped out to a 7-3 start to the 2024 season with a young team.
North has scored 10 or more goals in all seven of its wins while not allowing teams to break five goals in five games this season. Lady Mustang head coach Stu Bailey believes the start is from the easier opponents early in the season, but he feels like it helped his young team get acclimated to the varsity level.
“I have all these freshmen,” Bailey said. “I brought a lot of freshmen up on the varsity [level]. I have about six or seven coming up. [They’re going to have to] bear with me, because they’re going to be thrown into the fire real quick.”
Bailey has four seniors on his team, all are the captains of the team. He trusts them and can rely on all four to get things done.
“They’re accountable for their actions,” Bailey said. “They make sure the other girls do what they’re supposed to do. They kind of talk to them privately.”
Senior Caroline Dawson, being one of the captains, wants to lead by just stepping in and being someone the younger girls can listen to but also someone they can talk to as well.
“I want to take that leadership and step up and communicate a lot, just being the head of the team,” Dawson said. “I want to be the problem solver, be the ones that people go to but also being helpful, having that kind of leadership role [while] also being someone that they can talk to, and if they need help, ask just for guidance. I think being a mentor in that way too. I think that’s for sure how we’ve done it.”
Fellow senior captain Avery Morgan wants to model how they lead with how the seniors before them led.
“Most of us started at a young age in middle school or underclassmen, and the captains and seniors, that’s what they did for us,” Morgan said. “We’re just reflecting that and being uplifting and positive and giving them someone to talk to.”
Dawson feels like the fast start to the season was due to the work they put in during practice and the offseason.
“I feel like in our practices we’ve always just really tried in every single drill, every single practice and lots of conditioning,” Dawson said. “Once we started going into games, we had a lot of good collaboration with that and communication and teamwork. All of that conditioning and hard work led into the result of our games.”
Senior Lauren Scott believes the closeness of the team is what’s helped them to get off to a fast start to the year.
“We’re a really close knit team,” Scott said. “We have a lot of fun at practice. There’s a lot of communicating, and we’re just a close group of girls. It kind of works well together on and off the field.”
North Oldham has a total of 13 underclassmen, eight freshmen and five sophomores. Senior Katie Smith feels like this set of underclassmen can be really special because of the interest they show in the sport.
“I think just implementing the basics, and then that way when they’re our age, they can work on their skills, because a lot of them are learning to pass and catch right now. As simple as it is, that’s the most important thing. We have so many good athletes. I think that we’re just laying the foundation for the next years to come.”
With younger players and first time players, Bailey has seen a lot of improvement from them, especially with their stick work. He feels more comfortable with substituting them in games because of the growth they’ve made in their game. Their growth playing the game has allowed Bailey to coach them on the strategy side of the sport.
“Now, they’re more reliable,” Bailey said. “The reliability is picking up, which is great. That’s going to help us at the end of the year. I’m really happy with that. They’re smart, and they’re athletic.”
Bailey has enjoyed watching his offense spread the ball out and utilizing their speed to their advantage. His five big movers on offense are midfielders Dawson, Smith and sophomore Katie Raymond, with the attackers in Scott and junior Abbey Burke. He’s also seen good contributions from sophomore Josie Hendrick and freshmen Savannah Lampton and Sadie Seifrit.
“I’m pleasantly surprised at where it’s coming from,” Bailey said. “I’m really happy with that. It’s not just one or two players I have spread out, and it seems like, if they key on one, the other one picks it up. It makes it tough on the defense who we are going to key on.”
Offensively, Dawson has seen Scott be very helpful with scoring goals, and Smith be big for the team with utilizing her speed to get open and help the offense out.
“That works really well, and I know that [Smith] and Lauren are a very good duo,” Dawson said. “I think them and Abbey Burke and Sadie Seifrit, they also work very well to just help communicate with both Lauren and Katie but also are just very good at their scoring.”
Scott feels like the offense has gotten better at passing down field and with longer passes to get transitions started.
“Our team is doing a lot better with transitions this year, going from defense to [midfielders], instead of the middies having to run it down all the way,” Scott said. “We are getting better at passing to attack. I think that’s really helped our gameplay.”
Scott is the leading scorer on the team. Bailey thinks she’s a good role model for the younger players to watch, because of her intelligence of the game and knowing where to be.
“[Scott] gets open. Sometimes when it’s a fast break, she just runs down the field, and she’s wide open,” Bailey said. “They can pass it to her. She catches it and shoots. She’s got a good shot. She can place a shot, and they have confidence that they pass it to her…she can seal the deal. She’s a really good leader.”
Sophomore Lorelei Regan is the team’s goalie. Bailey has seen a lot of positive things out of her game to start the year.
“[Regan] gets focused,” Bailey said. “She’s really good. It’s tough, that’s the toughest position on the field. She’s the last line of the defense.”
Morgan has also seen Regan do a good job of stepping into that role.
“[Regan’s] really stepped up and has done a good job of shutting it down and communicating and getting the ball when she catches it,” Morgan said. “When they score, getting it out and getting it up the field, so we can get back in our position.”
Bailey really likes how his defense has stepped up and played in games. His defensive captain is Morgan and the other defenders on the field with her is junior Addie Spencer and sophomores Ella Williams and Lacie Bumba.
“Those four are my defenders, along with the middies,” Bailey said. “They build a wall. When a girl tries to cut in, it’s a beautiful thing to watch. They really do a good job. They’re quick. I really like speed on that…I just need speed to get in front of them. They do a great job with that. They really have been really successful with that.”
Smith has seen Morgan and WIlliams play really good defense and work well together throughout the year.
“Avery has done a really good job,” Smith said. “Her and Ella play our low defense, and they do such a good job on willing to crease. I’ve been so impressed with it, because we used to get burnt on that in years past, especially against really good teams. They’ve done such a good job this year. I definitely think our crease defense has been really well this year.”
The last game before spring break the Lady Mustangs played was against their county rival, the South Oldham Lady Dragons. They lost 14-7 on Thursday, March 28. Bailey wanted to see patience on offense and good defense heading into the game.
“South has some good players, and if you let them get a foot or two ahead of you, cutting toward the goal, they’ll pass it right to the girl to shoot,” Bailey said. “I call it hip-to-hip, where you’re running right with them the whole time. If you’re looking the other way and if they cut, you’re dead.”
For his seniors, Bailey wants them to have fun in their senior year and pick up those relationships they’ve made and stay connected to them.
“I think there’s going to be a connection with this group,” Bailey said. “They’re really focused. There’s no pro league. What are you going to do? Just enjoy yourself, enjoy the game. Hopefully, maybe in the future, they can come back and pay it back by being a coach or an official. It’s still being tied into the game, plugged into the game. That’d be great.”
Dawson wants to remember that close knit community they have and the camaraderie they have with each other.
“I think that just changes the whole game of the game,” Dawson said. “I just think it helps us just be more confident on the field, more positive and just have better outcomes for each game. I feel like it’s definitely reflected on our wins and our record so far. I just think definitely the close knit community will be something I remember this year and ongoing.”
Scott agrees with Dawson about remembering the closeness of the team and the bonds they created while playing lacrosse.
“It’s just such a close team,” Scott said. “You’re always having fun, you’re always laughing even if you’re losing, it’s not as fun, but just being with these teammates makes it such a positive experience.”
Morgan wants to have the connection with the underclassmen that she has with the players that came before her.
“I even talk to girls who have graduated still, because we were so close,” Morgan said. “I hope that the girls who are underclassmen think that of us. I think we do a good job of keeping it positive and fun, because that’s the whole point.”