Genesee Women's Lacrosse has two graduating sophomores, Hannah Kirisits, a midfielder, as well as Olivia Clingerman, a defender, who will be continuing their lacrosse careers next year. Hannah, who is a Lancaster native, will be venturing off to Nazareth College and Olivia, originally from Waterloo, will be attending Keuka College.
During their freshmen season, both Hannah and Olivia made people take notice of their talent. Olivia had the task of holding down the defense, as the only lacrosse player, teaching three soccer players how to defend in this sport, and also assisting with developing a soccer player into a lacrosse goalie. Olivia took on a captain's role and held the defense together. Hannah had big shoes to fill as she was expected to step in for Molly Barden, who graduated the year prior. Molly helped Head Coach, Jeff Reyngoudt, and Assistant Coach, Macy Reyngoudt, build the program. During Barden's freshmen year, the lacrosse program was revived and she was the only actual lacrosse player to be a part of the team. During her sophomore year, Jeff and Macy were able to recruit more lacrosse players to build off of Molly's talents. By the time Hannah came, she exceeded everyone's expectations and filled is Barden's spot effortlessly. Kirisits came from a state championship program, Lancaster High School, and brought all her knowledge and expertise with her. She was almost like having a coach on the field; everything you would want out of a captain.
Clingerman and Kiristis were a big part of the recruiting class for their sophomore year. When recruits would come for campus visits, they would help give insight as to what it would be like to be an athlete at Genesee and assist with tours. They were invested in the program that the Reyngoudt's built and wanted to keep it going. "We started practicing with the team in the fall and we're excited with what we had. There were even a few soccer players that decided to try out and we're picking the sport up extremely quick. Hannah and Liv are a big part of that. They would put in extra hours with the team and always offer assistance. While we were at swim Nationals in early March, Hannah, Olivia, and our other captain, Jenny Yuhnke, ran practices every day and put together their own practice plans, with approval of course. We were so excited for their sophomore season and we were adamant about making a run at Nationals this year" stated Jeff. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, Clingerman and Kirisits would not be able to play their final season with the Cougars. Although they were not able to show how hard they had worked over the past year and a half, their coaches were still proud of everything they had done and continue to do.
Even though these two athletes did not get to play their sophomore season, they had many accolades during their freshmen season. Both Hannah and Olivia started all 11 games. Olivia had 1 goal, 1 assist, and 26 groundballs from the defensive third. She was also awarded All-Conference and All-Tournament team during Regionals. Hannah had 33 goals, 12 assists, 28 draw controls, and 27 ground balls. She was awarded All-Conference, All-Region, and she is the first female lacrosse player at Genesee Community College to be awarded All-American. Clingerman plans to major in American Sign Language at Keuka College with the hopes of becoming an interpreter. Kiristis will be attending Nazareth College with a Visual Communication Design Major and currently has a 3.76 GPA.
These two athletes are some of the best lacrosse players that have ever played for Genesee. The Athletic Department here at GCC is so extremely proud of them and they will be greatly missed. We are so excited that Hannah Kirisits has committed to Nazareth College and that Olivia Clingerman has decided to commit to Keuka College!
