By BRIAN TORTELLA

Correspondent

On X @tortreports

The West Deptford High girls lacrosse team’s 2-7 start to the season has been uncharacteristic, to say the least, compared to the recent successful years the Eagles have experienced. 

But what else could be expected from a young team that graduated three of its top four scorers from the previous season? Michaela Scirrotto (40 goals), Jaci Gismondi (30) and Sophia Belbin (26) combined for 96 goals last spring, nearly 49 percent of the team’s goals scored last season.

Kassidy Yarusso, a junior last season, tallied 40 goals in 2023. She was out with an injury the first four games of this season. So, when considering her absence, nearly 70 percent of the goals from last season were scored by someone not on the field this spring. That’s a whopping 136 of the 197 goals the Eagles tallied a year ago. 

It’s certainly no easy task to replace those kinds of numbers, but Yarusso’s recent return on April 16 has given the Eagles some life. Slowly and steadily, they’re starting to fly higher, beginning with showing supreme offensive dominance in their 14-9 victory over Haddon Heights on Friday. 

Yarusso shined with three goals and two assists in the win, but there’s also 17 freshmen on the roster. Yes, you read that correctly, 17 rookies. While most of them just hope to get some playing time, Riley Walsh made her presence known with four goals and two assists in the victory.

“Having Kass (Yarusso) back after missing the beginning of our season completely changed the dynamic of our team,” coach Christine Stetson said. “She’s phenomenal, and puts the team on her back while going to score goals. She’s an integral part of our team as a senior captain. We’re really starting to click as a team.”

Yarusso already has 12 goals in the five games since her return, while Walsh has 16 this season. 

“We’re definitely building this year,” said Yarusso. “We lost a lot of seniors last year, we lost a lot of seniors the year before. We’re building more and more every day. I think we lack a lot of lacrosse players, but we have a lot of athletes on this field, and I think it’s a big role to be a leader who knows the sport.”

Yarusso’s statement couldn’t be more true about the possible lack of true lacrosse players. The Eagles won back-to-back Group 1 state titles under Stetson’s sister, Courtney Stetson. The lacrosse roster is also filled with a handful of primarily soccer players.

Despite the loss of a lot of last year’s firepower and a lack of true lacrosse players, the pure athletes on the team hope to turn the season around — and they said they hope Friday night’s win was just the beginning. 

“I believe our team is progressing in all the right directions,” Yarusso said. “Through upperclassmen leadership and never-ending effort, our team has stepped up and continued to build despite the lack of experience from most players. From here we will continue working hard every day and competing with some of the best players in South Jersey in order to prepare ourselves for the playoffs.”