Laurence Manning Academy goalie Cassandra Schuessler said she is glad her high school does not offer girls’ lacrosse. Had the Manning, S.C., high school offered girls’ lacrosse, Schuessler would not have had the opportunity to play high school lacrosse with her brother, who now plays collegiately, or even her current teammates.

“I am having the time of my life with my team,” she said. “I just enjoy the boys, and they make my life interesting, and I am glad I get to be part of it. I am kind of glad we didn’t have a girls’ team because I wouldn’t get to know the boys that I have a good relationship with now.”

Schuessler is the starting goalie for the Laurence Manning Academy’s boys’ lacrosse team. Schuessler’s presence draws attention.

“Sometimes when we show up, the guys on the other team are surprised she is actually our goalie,” Laurence Manning Academy coach Mike Davey said. “Which sometimes works to our advantage, as they try to intimidate her and we get some free goalie interference calls.”

The Laurence Manning Academy players, on the other hand, just see her as their teammate.

“They don’t see this as a challenge,” Davey said. “They see her as our goalie. She is part of the team. And she’ll tell them, and they listen to her. And we have had this discussion — she is the captain of the defense, so when she tells you to move in or move out, that’s what they do.”

Being a fourth-year member of the club and a second-year starter, she is the only goalie some of her teammates have known. But at first, she admits she was nervous.

“For the most part, I am all they have known as their goalie on their team,” she said. “I am just a teammate to them, that is how they talk to me, that is how they act to me. I am not treated any differently because of my gender.”

According to Davey, the program is still getting itself off the ground. This is the fourth season of lacrosse at Laurence Manning Academy, although one of those seasons ended abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The high school program benefited from a USA Lacrosse grant program that helped provide the school resources to launch the program, Davey said.

Dan Tamburello, Laurence Manning Academy’s previous head coach, formed the program in 2019 alongside Davey. Davey said they recruited boys and girls; however, there were not enough females interested to form a girls’ team.

“Once we got [the grant], we started to play,” Davey said. “We tried to have a girls’ team, and we had 10 or 11 girls sign up, but we didn’t think that was enough, so Dan and I sat down and we said it would be just like football — if a girl wants to play football, that door is open to them. So, if a girl wants to play lacrosse, we would take them. We don’t have cuts.”

Davey said there is no apprehension of including females on a male team.

“I am here to help coach a team which Dan had started, but hey, my job is also to grow the game of lacrosse, and if somebody wants to come out, male or female, they want to play the game I love, I’ll teach you as much as I can about the game. And hopefully that carries on,” Davey said.

Schuessler remained interested despite never playing the sport before eighth grade. The fact that Laurence Manning Academy only offered boys’ lacrosse did not deter Schuessler. She and two others wanted to join the boys’ team. In South Carolina, eighth graders are able to play at the varsity level.

“There weren’t any other options for girls,” she said. “There was no girls’ team, and I was already invested in the lacrosse program, so I went with the flow.”

She started out as a midfielder but soon realized the team did not have a backup goalie. So, she inquired about playing between the pipes. She became the team’s starter in her sophomore season.

After taking on the boys during the high school season, she participated in a girls’ summer camp, where she got to see firsthand the difference between boys’ and girls’ lacrosse.

“They didn’t know she plays on a boys’ team,” Davey said. “So, Cassandra is like, ‘That’s not how my team does it.’ And they’re like, ‘Well how does your team defend on an eight-meter penalty?’ And she is like, ‘We don’t have that.’”

The differences in rules cause her to play a different style than other girls, she said.

“I am used to a timer going, so I am usually pressing forward in the game more than other goalies,” Schuessler said.

While Davey believes his goalie is able to play at the next level, he recognizes that playing for a boys’ team in the middle of South Carolina does not attract many women’s college coaches. Schuessler is also unsure whether to pursue lacrosse at the next level. She said she is focused on academics but hasn’t ruled out taking her game to the NCAA level.

Although Schuessler feels fortunate to play on the boys’ team, Davey says interest in the sport could grow to the point that Laurence Manning Academy offers girls’ lacrosse.