Steinert High senior Stephanie Miranda plays in game against Ewing April 14, 2012. The Spartans won 8-4.(Staff photo by Rob Anthes.)
Steinert High senior Mani Kissling—here during a 8-4 win against Ewing April 14, 2014—came to lacrosse as sophomores. (Staff photo by Rob Anthes.)
It’s a good thing first impressions don’t count in the Steinert girls lacrosse program, or the Spartans may be playing this year without two of their top players.
Senior Mani Kissling had 21 goals in Steinert’s 3-1 start, while classmate Stephanie Miranda is one of the fastest players and top defensive wings in the Colonial Valley Conference.
To hear them talk, it’s amazing they ever got on the field. Senior goalie Dylan Phoenix approached her good buddy, Miranda, during their freshman year.
“To be honest I had no idea what lacrosse was,” Miranda said. “Dylan was telling me how she was the goalie of it, and I was like ‘What is lacrosse?’ I never even heard of it before.”
Kissling heard of it, but she had her pride.
“I signed up my freshman year, and I was about to go out and try out,” she recalled. “I chickened out because I was like ‘I don’t want to be the idiot that doesn’t know how to catch or throw.’ I just didn’t want to make a fool of myself. I just kind of pushed off that year and took the year off.”
The two, who both play soccer, finally decided to take the plunge as sophomores. At first, Kissling’s greatest fears were coming true.
“We came out together, and we were a mess at the first tryout,” Kissling said with a smile. “We were rolling on the floor laughing at tryouts. This is a big thing for us now, though.”
As well it should be, as both players have gone from a mess to two of the best at what they do. Both are fast, although Miranda is almost explosive, as she accelerates immediately. When Kissling gets up a head of steam, she’s also tough to stay with.
“You can’t nail them down,” coach Lorraine Heisler said. “Once they get that momentum going, their speed is just unbelievable. It seems like they’re not winded. I know they’re tired, but you look at them and you’re like ‘Shouldn’t you be dying right now? You just ran almost 100 yards.’ It’s no big deal to them.
“It just goes to show how good of an athlete each of them are. They stay in shape, they do stuff in the off-season to stay sharp. It really pays off for them.”
And they have come a long way from that initial day of tryouts.
“Steph was really kind of timid at the beginning,” said Heisler, who was an assistant during the duo’s sophomore year. “I had to check her stick a couple times to get her a feel for how aggressive the game can be. But they both became more comfortable with the game, and how it’s played and what they need to do. It’s great.”
Phoenix, a four-year varsity member who will play at Misericordia College next year, was positive both players could make an impact.
“My freshman year our method was running it down and shooting,” said the senior, who made her 400th career save this season. “We had a lot of girls that liked to force through, and Mani and Steph had the speed and capabilities to do that.
“When I saw Steph being as fast as she was, I thought ‘She has to do it’ because lacrosse is all speed, you can’t really hit anyone. If she can outrun everyone else, I knew she’d eventually do well. I wanted to get other soccer girls to do it because I like hanging out with them. And I knew Mani would be good at it. She had that game playing attitude. She liked to pull it through and force it through. I saw that in her.”
Kissling started quickly as a sophomore, scoring 23 goals. She emerged further last season with a 25-goal output. This year, she had two six-goal games, a five-goal output and a four-goal binge in the first four games.
At times she is simply unstoppable. Her ability to read the field and see how things develop give her an idea of where to attack. But according to Mani, she pretty much does the same thing every time.
“I wish I could say there was some technique to make me sound smarter,” Kissling said with a laugh. “But I get the ball and I run it down and I’m like ‘If this feels right, then I’ll go for it.’ I don’t have any technique.
“I think a lot of it has to do with speed. If you can pretty much beat a girl, then you’re in. Sometimes I change it up a little bit. In my head I have these set plays that I do. If they don’t work then I don’t try them again. I just do it.”
Kissling also gives her teammates – particularly Phoenix – shout outs for their help.
“I unfortunately did not go to camps and this may sound super sappy but I honestly think I’ve gotten better because of my team,” Kissling said. “Warming up with Dylan, she’s taught me where to shoot. Warming her up she knows where I’m going. I know a way to get around her. We feed off each other. Her goaltending gets better, my shot’s getting better. It’s working out well.”
At the opposite end of the field, Miranda focuses on shutting down the other team’s best offensive player, but she can also score. One of the great sights in a lacrosse game is to watch her come up with a steal deep in the Steinert zone, then take off upfield like a blur and throw a shot past the opposing goalie after leaving everyone in her wake.
“We usually keep her back because she’s good at reading people coming in,” Heisler said. “She slows people down. But if she has the opportunity (to go to goal) and has the window, I just say go ahead.”
Miranda’s speed makes many observers wonder why she does not run track, but it turns out that she did during her freshman year. She found it too restrictive.
“I didn’t like being told ‘You have to do this,’” she said. “I like to run on my own, do my own kind of running and do my sprinting and then jogging. I didn’t like the organized running.”
Fortunately for the Spartans, Phoenix was persistent and Miranda finally broke down and tried lacrosse.
“She told me all the soccer girls did it, so I was like ‘OK, I can do it,” Miranda said.
Her desire on defense is fueled by helping her buddy out behind her.
“I take it personally when they score because Dylan’s like my best friend so I’m protecting my best friend,” she said. “As silly as that sounds that’s what it is. So for me, my main goal is to protect her and make sure nothing gets by her.”
But when the time comes to make a run, Miranda will leave her friend behind for a few seconds.
“I like sprinting,” Miranda said. “When I’m running with the ball and I pass people I just like the feeling I get. I’m kind of laughing but I need not to laugh.”
Miranda actually coerced Kissling to play, as the two are also close pals. And while Kissling has done a lot to improve herself, she gives a former Spartan forward plenty of credit.
“One of the people who got me where I am is Kelsey Harshman,” Kissling said. “My sophomore year she literally tutored me. It was like a math course, she would always tell me how to catch, how to check. I really think she’s the reason I am where I’m at today.”
Harshman is currently playing for Lycoming College in Pennsylvania. While Miranda is still deciding on colleges, her focus is soccer.
Kissling would love to play lacrosse at the next level, though. She is going to Mercer County Community College next year and is thinking of trying to start a lacrosse club. From there, she hasn’t given up hope of perhaps playing for a Division III team.
“I couldn’t go Division I or Division II, but I’d like to walk-on at a Division III school,” Kissling said. “Lacrosse is just fun for me.”
It probably became fun right after she discovered she wasn’t the idiot that couldn’t catch or pass the ball.
,
