However, the NDCL Lions were lucky enough to hire a state championship and second winningest High School Girls Soccer Coach in the state of Ohio, Pam Malone, to coach the Girls Soccer Team after retiring from Chagrin Falls High School as a teacher and coach.
Does winning just happen?
No, of course not.
Does winning occur because a team has talent?
Maybe.
Particularly at lower levels of youth sport, we see this often especially when a good team is playing against teams of lower skill level.
How about at the varsity level of high school athletics?
When all other things are equal (i.e., competitive balance), certainly, coaching makes a huge difference at the high school level.
Time and time again, we are reminded that great high school coaches are difference makers.
Of course, it’s not easy to find great coaches.
However, the NDCL Lions were lucky enough to hire a state championship and second winningest High School Girls Soccer Coach in the state of Ohio, Pam Malone, to coach the Girls Soccer Team after retiring from Chagrin Falls High School as a teacher and coach.
You might be asking at this point, ‘What does hiring a state championship soccer coach have to do with winning a conference title in lacrosse?’
Well, earlier in her teaching/coaching career, Malone coached the Chagrin Falls Tigers Girls Lacrosse Team before focusing solely on coaching soccer.
So, after retirement, and then leading the NDCL Lions Girls Soccer program to a Conference Title in the Fall of 2024, Malone decided to take the NDCL Head Girls Lacrosse Coaching position in the Spring of 2025.
In just two years, Coach Malone took a Lions Girls Lacrosse Team that was 5-11 in 2024 prior to her arrival, to winning a 2026 North Coast Conference Title and currently sitting at 12-3 as they head into the OHSAA playoffs.
Aside from helping the Lions play excellent technical and tactical lacrosse, Malone has turned this team around by using positive coaching and by creating a fun environment for her players.
This joy and positivity was evident as the Lions defeated the Lake Catholic Cougars, 13-10 on May 5 at Lake Catholic High School.
In defeating their rival to win the conference title, the Lions dug deep to overcome adversity and obtain victory.
After the Cougars got on the scoreboard first to start the game, senior standout Macey Beers took over. Beers landed a first quarter hat trick as the Lions took a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, the Lions continued to extend their lead as they outscored the Cougars 4-2, to take an 8-4 lead into halftime.
Indeed, at halftime, it appeared the Lions would cruise to their first conference title in school history.
But as is the case in most competitive sport endeavors, especially in a rivalry contest, the Cougars had no intention of going down without a fight.
After intermission, the Cougars stormed back in the third quarter with four straight goals in the first 6:11 to even the contest at 8-8.
The Lions easily could have gotten down and crumbled, particularly with so much on the line.
But they didn’t let the pressure and enormity of the moment get to them.
They rose to the occasion.
And that is where great coaching may make the most difference.
The mental game of sports is crucial for success and Coach Malone has coached her players to be mentally tough.
So when the Cougars tied the score at 8-8, the Lions did not panic.
Coach Malone had been preparing them for this moment for the past two seasons.
“She knows when we’re down and she knows how to bring us back,” Macey Beers said. “It’s not like yelling at us, it’s like positive talk. She knows what’s best for us. Knowing that she has faith in us really helps us as a team.”
It’s that overall positive environment that Coach Malone creates that allows the Lions the ability to bounce back from adversity in competition.
“She always tells us, take it quarter by quarter,” Fallon Campolieti said. “We always say, ‘Every 12 minutes, it’s just 12 minutes, and we always say it’s 0-0. No matter the score, she always makes sure that we have confidence in ourselves, and she always makes sure we work as a team.”
Added senior Maggie Kane: “She lets us talk and figure it out. She doesn’t tell us what to do, she allows us to talk as a team and tell each other what we can work on.”
Coach Malone further elaborated on how she has trained her team to deal with adverse situations.
“My philosophy is the more different situations you can put your team in and they work through those situations, when that situation happens again, we know that we can come out of that,” Coach Malone said.
The coach continued: “I really try to just say, ‘hey, we’re going to win this quarter, let’s win 12 minutes. We’re not trying to win the game. We want to win the quarters. If we win every quarter, we win the game.”
So after the Cougars came storming back to tie the score at 8-8, the Lions showed resilience by staying focused on trying to win the quarter. And by doing so, they ended the quarter with three straight goals by Olivia Reagan, Meredith Gerbitz, and Maggie Kane to take an 11-8 lead.
Both teams scored two goals in the fourth quarter as the Lions claimed a 13-10 victory and their first conference title in school history.
For the game, the Lions were led offensively by Macey Beers (5 points – 4 goals, 1 assist), Kane (4 points – 3 goals, 1 assist), Meredith Gerbitz (2 points – 1 goal, 1 assist), Sadie Beers (1 point – 1 goal), Lily Fakult (1 point – 1 goal), Julia Martin (1 point – 1 goal), Olivia Reagan (1 point – 1 goal), and Gia Roberts (1 point – 1 assist).
The Lions will next host the Hoban Knights in the first round of the OHSAA playoffs on May 12.
