Niagara Wheatfield/Niagara Falls blending together seamlessly on the lacrosse field

It appeared in January that Niagara Falls High School might not have a girls lacrosse team this year. They had six kids expected to come out for the team, well short of the minimum for a roster.

That is when Niagara Wheatfield High School stepped up and the two programs decided to co-op a month later. The two programs were coming together. They were going to come together as a new team, the Niagara Wheatfield/Niagara Falls Falcons.

“We talk about it nonstop, where we would be if we weren’t combined,” Niagara Wheatfield/Niagara Falls co-head coach Nick Frame said. “Obviously for us, we didn’t have enough girls for a team. So we’d all be at home right now if we didn’t combine. … It’s blended really well for us … the marriage has been perfect. The girls, they gel so well together, even from day one, … you could see it and you could feel it. They’ve done a really great job.”

The team has a mix of players from Niagara Falls and Niagara Wheatfield with six players from Niagara Falls and the 18 other girls coming from Niagara Wheatfield. The staff is not excluded from the sharing with the team having joint head coaches, Cory Turner from Niagara Wheatfield and Nick Frame from Niagara Falls.

As they headed into the season, Niagara Wheatfield was expected to have 30 players come out across the junior varsity and varsity levels.

Once the schools officially became a co-op the administrations put together the staff and the logistics. It was a process Turner called a “top-level tetris game.” They are not the first Section VI school to be a co-op though as this season there are three other co-ops fielding teams.

“It’s been great getting to know all of them,” Turner said. “… I think as is with any coaching or education, getting to know kind of what makes each girl tick a little bit and what motivates them individually and finding out how you can best use that to make them the best version of them they can be, not only on the field but also off the field and using that to help out our program.”

One of the factors that both coaches posit is a reason that their numbers are low is the fact that more girls are now trying out for flag football in recent years. But, the lacrosse team does have four girls that are playing both sports this year.

The team has spent most of their time this season at Niagara Wheatfield with one game, practice and scrimmage at Niagara Falls High School.

“Honeslty, it’s probably been the best thing that’s happened to the program in a very long time,” Niagara Wheatfield/Niagara Falls junior Makenna Doyle said. “And the connections, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that it’s two different schools. The connections on the field and off the field are insane. Everybody’s such good friends and the energy’s crazy.”

Last season, Niagara Falls went 10-7 overall while Niagara Wheatfield went 5-11. This season, the team started off on fire going 4-0 before they have struggled recently and are currently 5-3 overall and 3-1 at home.