Manassas Journal Messenger | Ozl follows the footsteps
By LACY LUSK
The daughter of a former lacrosse player at The Citadel, Osbourn Park goalie Becca Ozl’s also headed to college to play the sport.
Last weekend, Ozl signed a letter of intent to play at Division I Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. The daughter of Steve and Corinne Ozl, she has been around the game her whole life. Growing up in a house with a father who played lacrosse, Ozl was part of OP’s first lacrosse team in 2000 and has been with the Yellow Jackets ever since. She even helped persuade Shannon Smith, the current OP team’s leading scorer, to go out for the sport four years ago.
TRAVELING BRUINS
Forest Park’s boys team spent part of its spring break in Charlotte, N.C., playing two of North Carolina’s top teams.
The Bruins lost 11-7 to Meyer Park and 14-3 to Charlotte Country Day, which regularly tussles with Durham Academy for the state championship. Inside the area, Forest Park (1-4 overall, 1-1 in the Cardinal District) has one-goal losses to Osbourn Park and Woodbridge and a three-goal win over Gar-Field. Bruins assistant coach Todd Boward, who had worked at a camp run by Charlotte Country Day’s coach, was influential in setting up the trip.
“It was important for us to play those good teams in the sense that our kids got the experience,” Forest Park coach Dan Forgas said. “Unfortunately for us, with the weather we’ve had, we had only played two games and both of those teams had played 13 or 14.
“In my honest opinion, the 1-4 record doesn’t indicate where we are in the picture. We lost 29-0 to Osbourn Park two years ago and to lose 10-9 to Woodbridge was a big improvement for us.”
AROUND THE AREA
Rainy weather has been the theme of the spring, so few teams have had the chance to gather any momentum.
For instance, Forest Park’s girls have a two-game winning streak, with 18 days between victories. The Bruins (2-2, 2-0) bested district rivals Gar-Field (18-2 on April 3) and Woodbridge (16-4 on Monday).
In the win over Gar-Field, Kristi Artenian had five goals and an assist; Kirsten Rodger three goals and three assists; Celeste Otsuka three goals; Jewels Barkhuff two goals; Janelle Richardson two goals and an assist; and Shannon Kennedy, Lindsey Blackwell and Shara Kantz a goal apiece.
Against Woodbridge, Rodger was the main playmaker with nine assists. She also scored two goals, while Artenian put together six goals and an assist. Blackwell finished with two goals and an assist, while Kennedy scored two goals. Barkhuff, Richardson, Kristen Smith and Melanie Torres each scored a goal against the Indians. Amanda Meiklejohn made four saves in the Gar-Field win and Elyssa Klopfenstein gathered eight ground balls.
Lacy Lusk covers high school lacrosse for the Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger. He can be reached via e-mail or at (703) 878-8059.