As the winter sports season continues, the Lakeshore Lightning Team is holding a steady season at their current record of 12-6. The athletes from Homestead, Cedarburg, Cedar Grove, Germantown, Grafton, Slinger, West Bend East, and West Bend West have come together to form a co-op.
The team recently received the All-Conference Award for Most Sportsmanship team in the Conference. One of the biggest aspects of this year’s varsity team is their strong teamwork. While being a group assembled of girls from various schools, players strive to have chemistry among themselves. Their dedication to each other has been key to their success within games.
Olivia Dykema, sophomore forward player, was recently named the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Player of the Week for Dec. 30 to Jan. 4 after receiving a monumental 18,141 votes, she spoke about the valuable connection among teammates.
“Everyone is pretty close on and off the ice. Despite everyone being on different club teams, I think the team has a lot of chemistry between one another,” Dykema said.
Senior defense, Emily Scozzafaze, also touched on the energy among the players even when they are not playing together.
“Off the ice I think everyone’s having a lot of fun. A lot of the girls on the team are really close and everyone’s friends. I think our team has a good community and a lot of spirit and I think it’s really showing in the way that we play,” Scozzafaze said.
Scozzafaze also discussed the tight-knit bond among players on the ice, highlighting how their trust and collaboration are key to executing a successful game.
“I think our forwards work really well together this year and there’s a lot of chemistry on the ice,” Scozzafaze said.
The Lighting are fresh from a game against the Fond du Lac Warbirds, who are currently 16-4 on Jan. 28. The girls relied heavily on their athleticism and skill on the ice but ultimately came up short, ending the game with one point while the Warbirds acquired four points.
As the athletes gear up for their pivotal conference tournament on Feb. 15, which determines their seeding for the state championship, the players reflect on the critical decisions and strategies shaping their path to team success.
Senior defense, Lauren Dykema gave her opinions.
“Even though we have many really skilled players, our energy and effort has been down so we need to fix that to win. We plan to improve energy by cheering each other on more to get more uplifted and for our effort I think we just all need to want it more,” Dykema said.
Sydney Bertolino, junior, also offered her insights on what the team needed to do to prepare.
“Some of our goals are definitely putting more effort into every shift. We plan on achieving this by encouraging each other and working hard at practice,” Bertolino said.
“With the conference game and important games coming up to end the season, I just want us to all work hard and put in 100 percent effort in our games,” Olivia Dykema said.
The Lightning are ready to take on the challenges ahead with determination and unity as a team. The team’s strong commitment to each other and their shared goal to thrive will hopefully drive them to success in their important upcoming games.
“At the start of the season, we were struggling with communication and teamwork between each other, but we have overcome throughout the season as we all got closer and we are able to communicate more effectively on the ice,”
Olivia Dykema said.