The Norwin Girls Lacrosse team pushes their way towards playoffs with a 6-9 record overall and a 5-5 record in their Section. The Norwin LAX Ladies qualified for playoffs by finishing 6th in Section 1 class-AAA of the WPIAL. The girls are looking forward and gaining momentum towards first round of WPIAL Playoffs on Tuesday May 13, 2025 @ Fox Chapel, after the paper was sent to print.

The team’s success is linked to a variety of factors, even though the girls lost some key contributors from last year.

“I think we are rebuilding a lot because we lost a lot of really effective seniors last year,”  junior midfielder Karlie Johnson said.  “I think our team chemistry is really good.”

With some big wins against Section teams Baldwin and Plum, the team is ready to be bold and move forward for the remainder of this season. The team made its way to the playoffs last season and qualified for the playoffs this year. With notable achievements from junior Karlie Johnson, who recently celebrated having 100 career goals, as well as Gia Fernandez scoring 100 as well. Junior Sydney Valenta, who celebrated having 400 career saves, the team is looking strong and continues to push forward.

“I think that just working together and building team chemistry was instrumental to success this year,” said senior Aurora Penrose. “I’m really excited for the playoffs.”

The team not only has strong players, but a strong coach as well. Head coach Courtney Kloos led the team to a multitude of achievements last season and this season, and the team looks to her for guidance and support.

“The coach is very involved,” Johnson said, “Ms. Courtney Kloos is a teacher at Norwin and a lot of people like to hang out with her before and after practice.”

Kloos’s students love being involved with Kloos on and off the field, but when it comes to coaching, not everything is so easy. Mrs.Kloos played lacrosse in high school and at St. Vincent College and still adores the game today, but she didn’t play every position.

“I spend a lot of time trying to get to know my players on and off the field,” Kloos said, “As a young coach I am still trying to coach and teach positions that I have never played before.”

Norwin Girls Lacrosse is looking to make a playoff run as the number 12 seed and will have to pull off some upsets along the way.

“We have a chance to beat every team but we need to want to win,” said Kloos. “And most of the mistakes came from not being comfortable working together with each other so we’ve been working on our plays and ball movement.”