Girls lacrosse: Wadsworth rolls over Buckeye on senior night

WADSWORTH — As far as senior night celebrations go, Addison Cyrus, Ella Swires and the rest of the Wadsworth girls lacrosse team were about as successful as they could be in a 18-0 non-league win over Buckeye on Thursday night. The biggest cheer came for Cyrus, just not in a way many expected. With Wadsworth (4-3) leading 12-0 at halftime, the senior goalie took off her gear and joined the offensive attack for the first time in her eight years of playing. She had a couple of opportunities to score, then with 2:46 remaining in the quarter got the ball and weaved around a defender before firing a shot into the net for her first career goal. "I was so stressed about getting a goal in the first place, but making that goal was so adrenaline-boosting," she said. "I really enjoyed it, actually, but I don't think I could do that again. I like my home in my cage." When asked who had the idea for Cyrus to change positions, there was some friendly debate. "It was more hers than mine," Cyrus said, pointing at Wadsworth coach Camdyn Brady. "I feel like you wanted to do it," Brady retorted. "I did, but I was scared," Cyrus said with a laugh. Swires did most of her damage early. Shortly after being recognized in front of the home crowd, Swires took her spot in the draw circle, where she won the first draw that led to a goal by junior Peyton Deemer just 16 seconds in. Swires won the next draw, got the ball back and passed to sophomore Jillian Jones for the second goal 33 seconds in. "I feel like I've had a couple rough games the past ones, so it felt good," Swires said. "I wanted everyone to have a chance and just everyone to work as a team and put more work into it. So, I thought that was really cool." The senior then took matters into her own hands, scoring a pair of goals in the next 26 seconds to give Wadsworth a 4-0 lead less than a minute in. She also won the draw on both possessions en route to winning the first five before being replaced in the circle. "I felt like it was very hectic, and I was very nervous about everything," Swires said about senior night. "There's a lot of people here that came to watch me, so it just felt good to actually be able to give them a little bit of something to watch and just see me on my senior night." Wadsworth (4-3) scored 11 goals in the first quarter and began rotating several players in the second. The Grizzlies also worked on a few things they can't really do in practice, including using their off hand, and scored just one goal in the quarter, by junior Kaitlin McGrath in the final minute. "We got a little sloppy when we were in our non-dominant hands," Brady said. "Those are things we can look back at, and I even told the girls we have to clean this up. This is, 'It's not looking good.' We can use these opportunities to learn and grow, and now we know that we have to continue to pressure each other with our non-dominant hands (in practice)." The Grizzlies set a season high for goals, led by Swires, McGrath, Paighton Markiewicz, Ashley Fleck and Aria Piboontum with two each and Deemer, Jones, Cyrus, Kennedy Hewit, Danica Mutters, Marilyn Culver, Brecken Schaller and Nora Love with one apiece. For Buckeye (0-5), the growing pains of being a new program continue. The Bucks have been shut out in each of their last three games, but that has not stopped them from trying their hardest. The program is in essentially its first season as a varsity sport after a truncated 2025. "They're a good bunch of girls," coach Michael Penny said. "I have two girls that came out that have had two practices just to fill numbers because the first few games, we were short numbers. Now we have better numbers. But they play hard. They're willing to try anything. They're willing to work. I'm really happy with their efforts." On the other side was a program that Buckeye can look at as one to try to model itself after in Medina County. "I'm really gonna miss this program. I loved every second of it," Cyrus said. "After four years of playing, you kind of grow a bond to it. And I really would love to one day help with all the youth programs. I really do like helping the program grow a lot." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.