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Highlight Reel: Girls Lacrosse Regionals
May 28, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
The Hartland and Lake Orion girls lacrosse teams advanced to Friday’s Division 1 Regional Final with victories Wednesday that were broadcast on MHSAA.tv.
A collection of highlights are linked below – click on the headings to see each.
Hartland 16, Midland 8
Early Lead For Hartland Amy Longe takes a pass from Danielle Porath and scores for Hartland early in the first half to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
Oliverio Scores On The Restart Hartland goes up 7-2 at the end of first half after Shelby Oliverio scores off a restart.
Carly Takes It Coast To Coast Midland cut the Hartland lead to 7-3 in the closing seconds of the first half when Carly Dalessandro takes it all the way down the field to score.
Milholland Gets Second Quick Goal Midland wasn’t done late in the first half, as Caroline Milholland muscles her way to the net for her team's second goal in 30 seconds.
Eagles Flying High Hartland puts the game out of reach early in the second half. Casandra Pankowski takes a pass in front and scores.
Midland Strikes Back Midland scores off the ensuing draw, with Caroline Milholland scoring again.
Longe Goes Low Amy Longe picks up a second half goal for Hartland on a low shot at close range.
Cavaliers Circle & Score Midland's Amy Sklenar circles the net for a second half goal against Hartland.
Pankowski Second Half Goal Casandra Pankowski takes a pass and scores for Hartland in the second half against Midland.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Lake Orion 13, Waterford United 9
Dragons Respond It only took a few seconds for Lake Orion to respond to the game's first goal by Waterford United. Off the draw, Darcy Muns takes the ball and races in for the score.
Rooney Counters For United Watch Faith Rooney circle around and score in the first half for Waterford United against Lake Orion.
Nice Move By Lazzara Watch this great spin move by Lake Orion's Alexandra Lazzara to score against Waterford United.
Mori Moves In To Score Emily Mori works hard to get one-on-one with the goalie and score for Waterford United in the first half against Lake Orion.
Muns Gets It Back Darcy Muns of Lake Orion takes a pass in the middle, spins and scores.
Muns Again Darcy Muns gave Lake Orion an 8-5 halftime lead with this goal in the closing minute.
Haley Makes United Pay Lake Orion's Haley Vanek intercepts a pass and scores quickly for the Dragons early in the second half.
Vanek On Another Pick Off It didn't take long for Haley Vanek to get another steal and turn it into a goal for Lake Orion early in the second half. This one turned out to be the game-winner.
Johnson Scores For United Waterford United got back within three when Payton Johnson took a pass and scored.
Klebba Puts It In Off a restart, Lake Orion's Rachel Klebba takes a pass and drives in for a goal.
Oliver Posts One For United Nice play here by Waterford United's Sydni Oliver to keep her team in the game against Lake Orion.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
![At left, Alyssa Shaver takes the field for Flint Carman-Ainsworth, and at right she coaches at Lincoln Memorial University.](/sites/default/files/2023-08/230808_Shaver_2H.png)
Carman-Ainsworth Grad Shaver Pioneering Programs in 2 College Sports
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 8, 2023
Alyssa Shaver has made a habit of getting women’s lacrosse programs off the ground.
Her first year in the sport was the first year of the program at Flint Carman-Ainsworth. Her collegiate career involved playing in the inaugural seasons for both University of Detroit Mercy and Lawrence Tech University.
As a coach, she led the first team at Urbana University in Ohio.
When she left Urbana for Lincoln Memorial University, a Division II program in Tennessee, she had an opportunity to take over an established – albeit still relatively new – program.
Two years in, another chance to start a program arose, and she once again stepped up.
However, this was not a different school – but in a different sport.
The 2008 Carman-Ainsworth graduate recently finished her third year in charge of the LMU women’s lacrosse program, and is now preparing for Year 2 in charge of the women’s field hockey program at the school – coaching a sport she had never played and rarely seen.
“I had not watched ‘Ted Lasso’ but when people figured out what I was doing, they told me about it,” Shaver said. “Last fall I started watching it and I was like, ‘Oh God, this is my life right now.’”
Starting with a new sport was how Shaver’s athletic career got jump-started in the first place.
She was a volleyball, basketball and softball player prior to high school, but when her basketball coach brought up the idea of starting a lacrosse program at Carman-Ainsworth, she decided to give it a try. The connection was almost immediate.
“I didn’t know what (lacrosse) was,” she said. “But I put a stick in my hand, and it felt like the most natural thing. I was a point guard in basketball, and I had played basketball since I could walk. I think in lacrosse, the footwork, defense, concepts and ideas are similar to basketball. But when I picked up a stick, it was like, ‘I get to carry this ball around? I don’t have to dribble it?’ From there, it kind of clicked.”
Shaver was a remarkable scorer at Carman-Ainsworth, racking up 226 goals during her four-year career. That included 81 goals her senior season.
While at Carman-Ainsworth, she also continued playing basketball and volleyball.
“As a point guard in basketball, I didn’t really care about scoring,” she said. “In lacrosse, I was really good at offense and scoring. I was a setter in volleyball, so my other sports I was always setting other people up.”
Her success at Carman-Ainsworth and at the club level led to an opportunity to play for U-D Mercy’s new program, led by coach Mary Ann Meltzer. Shaver was an academic all-conference selection during her time there and played for two years before coming back home.
While she was no longer playing, she continued to coach, something she had started while a freshman at Mercy.
It was while coaching a club team that the opportunity to return to playing at Lawrence Tech presented itself.
“It was terrifying,” Shaver said of returning to the game after two years away. “I would play in summer league, and I always had a stick in my hand because I was coaching, but I hadn’t really played competitively. I was 23 and most of my teammates were 18-year-old freshmen. I always joke with them now – some of them are my best friends – but the first couple years, they didn’t want to talk with me and I thought they didn’t like me. It turns out, they were scared of me.”
Shaver played three seasons at Lawrence Tech, earning All-America honorable mention from the National Women’s Lacrosse League in 2014 and first-team NWLL All-America honors in 2015 and 2016. She also was named an All-American by the NAIA as a senior.
Prior to her third season, with Lawrence Tech in need of a coach, Shaver reached out to Meltzer, who had recently retired from U-D Mercy. The two were reunited at LTU, and Shaver and her teammates reaped the benefits, reaching the NWLL championship game, which they lost 9-8 in overtime. Shaver was the NWLL National Offensive Player of the Year.
In 2017, with Shaver on the coaching staff, Lawrence Tech advanced to the NAIA national title game.
“She’s pretty much responsible for a lot of our program at Lawrence Tech,” Meltzer said. “She was the driving force in recruiting kids. She had taken a couple years off, and I think when she came here she was that responsible and was kind of the go-getter in getting players and getting people interested in LTU for quite a while. Fortunately, we’ve done well.”
In 2018, Shaver took over at Lourdes (Ohio), leading the program to its first winning season in her first year.
After two years at Lourdes, she took over Urbana, building the program from scratch. She took over the LMU program prior to the 2021 season. The Lady Railsplitters were 2-5 her first season, but have gone 12-7 and 10-9 in the two seasons since.
Shaver taking over the field hockey program alongside her lacrosse duties wasn’t the original plan. But after things fell through with the coach originally hired for the job, and with some of her lacrosse players signed on to play both as well, the LMU administration turned to her.
“I have a lot of experience with new programs with lacrosse, and the girls were so great and super appreciative,” she said. “My lacrosse players have some experience, and a lot of the field hockey girls were just awesome and understanding, and helping me learn.”
Shaver is learning the game and was able to get some help from volunteer assistant Khotsofalo Pheko, a former runner at LMU who played field hockey in South Africa before coming to Tennessee.
Meltzer has faith in her former player to navigate all of it and find success, even if she told Shaver she was crazy for taking on the field hockey job initially.
“Obviously she has the work ethic, and she’s going to do what she needs to do to be successful,” Meltzer said. “As coaches, especially younger coaches, when things aren’t going well they think that more is better when sometimes less is better. I think she just needs to be patient; we all do. That’s the biggest thing. With her, starting so many programs – we’re all competitive, we all want to be successful really quick – it is going to take time.
“She’s an incredible person. She has a heart of gold.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Alyssa Shaver takes the field for Flint Carman-Ainsworth, and at right she coaches at Lincoln Memorial University. (Middle) Shaver just finished her third season leading LMU women's lacrosse. (Below) Shaver (bottom row, fifth from left) was a four-year player at Carman-Ainsworth, including on this 2007 team. (Photos courtesy of Alyssa Shaver and Lincoln Memorial's athletic department.)