- April 15, 2025
-
-
Loading
Loading
Predicting the future isn’t as easy as it used to be for Ashley McLeod.
The 11th-year girls lacrosse coach at Riverview High has had a good idea of which players were coming up the pipeline since she started the program in 2015, but that cycle is coming to an end.
McLeod stopped coaching youth lacrosse in the area six years ago when her son was born, which means this year’s freshmen mark the last crop of players she coached before high school.
Though the future is less certain for a Rams team that has gone 83-46-1 under McLeod, that's something she’s planned to face for at least the next three years.
“I’ve been doing this long enough that you know when a girl comes in as a freshman you’re gonna lose them, and you prepare for that for four years,” McLeod said. “You know that’s gonna happen, so I’m constantly thinking about who’s going to shift in.”
McLeod’s preparations have set Riverview up with the No. 1 seed in the Class 2A-District 12 tournament, which begins for the Rams on April 10 at 7 p.m. with a semifinal matchup at home against the winner of No. 4 Venice vs. No. 5 Cape Coral.
Riverview faced somewhat of a rebuild coming into this season.
Susan Lowther, one of the area’s best players last year, is now playing at Clemson. Other key seniors, like Alexandra Hernandez and Emily Honish, graduated. To top it off, junior Chloe Hackl didn’t return for her senior season.
That left precious few starters remaining, which forced McLeod to turn to freshmen Ella Berzins (32 goals, five assists), Madison Muller (13 goals, five assists) and Kinley McCaw (12 goals, five assists) into key players.
Knowing her team needed seasoning quickly, McLeod threw them into the fire. The Rams played the fifth-toughest schedule in Class 2A, and that caught up to them.
After starting with a 6-3 record, the team lost six straight games — the longest losing streak in program history.
As far as the freshmen are concerned, however, that was the best thing that could have happened.
“We were used to going against lower-level competition, so we kinda froze up a bit against those higher-level teams,” Berzins said. “As it kept going on, we continued to progress against those teams. We did a lot better, even though they were still losses, we kept getting better.”
The Rams ended their season with a pair of bounce-back wins — 18-7 over Naples Barron Collier and 17-7 over Cardinal Mooney.
Now that they’ve adjusted to the pace, size and skill of seasoned high school competition, they’re not shy about shooting for a district championship and more this postseason.
Riverview (8-9) finished with a losing record in the regular season for the first time this year, but that doesn’t matter in the bigger picture.
Despite that record, Riverview is the only team in District 12 with an undefeated record in district play and is ranked as the No. 34 team in the state.
It’s not as if these players are brand-new to McLeod’s coaching, however.
McLeod said she has been waiting for Muller’s arrival for years. The freshman finished second at the cross country 4A state championships (17:54.20) and has shown plenty of promise in lacrosse.
“I’ve been waiting for Maddie to get here since she’s been in kindergarten,” McLeod said. “It’s something that I look forward to. She’s a workhorse, and she’s been working hard since she was 7 years old. You can tell when they’re little kids how much they’re gonna be involved, how hard they’re gonna work and how tough they’re gonna be.”
Other Rams who played for McLeod growing up include Ella and Maria Berzins, McCaw and senior goal-leader Caroline Steinwachs (62 goals, 13 assists).
The Rams aren’t taking this season lightly.
The freshmen agreed they ‘definitely’ want to win their district tournament and said their experience transitioning from club lacrosse to the varsity level together has forced them to learn how to play as a team.
And with veteran players on the roster like Steinwachs, Meghan Cox (14 goals, four assists) and Hailey Domenick, the Rams have the experience and leadership to guide them into the postseason and beyond.
