Plum girls lacrosse growing under new coach

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, April 6, 2018 | 4:18 PM

Kayla Platt is nine years removed from being a two-time All-WPIAL lacrosse player at Franklin Regional, but she brings plenty of coaching experience entering her first season at the helm of the Plum girls lacrosse team.

After a brief stint playing at Robert Morris in 2009, Platt returned to Franklin Regional as an assistant. She has spent the last nine years as an assistant at Franklin Regional and Shaler and coaches the True Elite club team.

Platt's goal is to continue to grow the game she loves, and she sees a good opportunity to do that at Plum, which is entering its second season in the WPIAL and fourth as a program.

The Mustangs have 10 seniors and impressed in their first year of WPIAL play, finishing 7-7 overall and 5-7 in Section 1-AA, missing the playoffs by one spot. Platt took over for Marlo Svidron, who coached the program its first three years.

“Plum had a phenomenal year their first year as a WPIAL team,” Platt said. “The coaches they had did an amazing job stepping up. I started in October, and I'm going into the season with the goal of making Plum a strong program. It's going to be a great season.”

Plum kicked off the season with a 16-4 Section 1 victory over Yough.

The Mustangs bring back experience at every position.

Tifani McElhose and Jamie Denzer are senior attackers and are complemented by the sophomores Jenna Montgomery and Amari Bunch and junior Sam Casile. McElhose is a captain, and Denzer is a Marietta recruit who has been hobbled by injury to start the season but is expected to be recovered soon.

Alexa Seigh, an alternate captain, Katie Patton and Carli Chini provide a good corps in the midfield.

The Mustangs have five seniors in their defense corps: Victoria Turchick, Kristen MacConnell, Alexa Stawski, Carmen Veltri and Zoe Ward. Stawski, a junior, also is a major contributor to the back line. Turchick is a captain. MacConnell recently committed to Chatham.

“The biggest things we had to work on were our game knowledge and getting our feel for game situations on the field, as well as our stick work and conditioning,” Platt said. “The girls on the team wanting to win as much as they do, makes it exciting and has them ready to go.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

Tags: Plum