Girls’ Lacrosse: Rausch’s competitive spirit drove Sailors

Don’t cross Newport Harbor High junior Jordan Rausch in lacrosse, and you’ll be sorry if you play against her in the board game “Sorry.”

“When I get sent back or people switch my pawns with theirs, ooh, I get upset,” Rausch said. “Yeah, I’m bad with ‘Sorry.’ I cheat sometimes. But then my friends get competitive too, and we just end up getting upset and cancel the game.”

Rausch just has this competitive streak. She doesn’t like to lose, and that attitude has helped her fit in well with the emerging Newport Harbor girls’ lacrosse team.

She’s also a hard worker. Her sport used to play soccer, but that changed when she got to high school and started playing field hockey and lacrosse.

Rausch quit field hockey last year and really got serious about lacrosse. She played for two club teams, Trojan Select and Team OC, the latter club coached by her Newport Harbor coach Matt Armstrong.

At two big club lacrosse tournaments, Sand Storm in Palm Springs and Surf Storm in Oceanside, Rausch had what could be called a packed schedule while competing for the two teams.

“I probably played like eight games a day in some of our tournaments,” she said. “I would literally switch uniforms and run from field to field.”

The hard work paid off. In her second year on varsity and her first starting at defender, Rausch was a rock for the Sailors.

She led Newport Harbor (9-8) with 31 ground balls in the regular season, and was second on the squad with 12 caused turnovers. Five of the ground balls came in a come-from-behind, 8-6 win over El Dorado on April 30, which clinched a share of the first Century SE League title in program history.

Newport Harbor shared the league title with Esperanza. Others also stepped up in the El Dorado game. Junior Brittany McCoy scored five goals in the absence of top seniors Daniela Vazquez and Jordan Blanchfield, who were at an academic dinner as they both will be school valedictorians this year.

But it also wouldn’t have been possible without the aggressive defender Rausch, who scored one of her two goals on the season in that game.

The season ended Tuesday, as the No. 15-seeded Sailors lost at No. 2 Foothill, 13-1, in the first round of the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division playoffs. But without Rausch, the Sailors don’t get to that point.

“When I think of Jordan, I think of a real consistent, solid effort on the field,” Armstrong said. “I noticed her as a freshman on JV. She was always a goofy kid, but when she would be on the field she would be a different kid, really focused ... She’s really precise with her checks. Most checks get called for fouls at our level, but her checks don’t.”

Rausch now belongs to a family of lacrosse players. Her older brother Brandon played the sport at Newport Harbor before graduating in 2013. He is now the lacrosse club president at the University of San Diego. Jordan’s younger sister Tatum, who lives with mom Tina in San Jose, also plays the sport for Archbishop Mitty High.

Tina played field hockey and ran cross country at Newport Harbor. Jordan lives in Newport Beach with her dad, Gary, who played football and ran at Corona del Mar High (class of ‘84). Gary is a frequent supporter of Jordan’s at the games, along with her grandma Sandy.

“He never played lacrosse, so he doesn’t know the sport very well, but when he sees something I could do he makes sure to tell me,” Jordan Rausch said. “It’s constructive criticism.”

Usually, Jordan Rausch makes the right play. She is part of an emerging program that went 0-12 just three years ago, but now has made the playoffs back-to-back seasons.

It’s getting to be a more and more experienced group. Vazquez, junior midfielder Rylie Siegfried and senior defender Mia Bagiu were team captains this season. Siegfried and sophomore Katie Hendrix were selected for the 2015 Girls’ OC U.S. Lacrosse National Team, which will compete May 23-24 in the U.S. Lacrosse Women’s National Tournament in Pennsylvania.

“I have moments when I step back at practice and think, ‘Two years ago, we would have been so lost in this drill,’” Armstrong said.

Rausch, too, is able to see the team’s increased competitiveness.

“I feel like we got more dedicated as a team,” she said. “This is something that we want. We’re going to put all of our dedication, our time, our knowledge that we have of lacrosse into the sport. We wanted it this year, and we went out and did it.”

Rausch wants to continue to improve. The club season starts again soon, and she will compete for OC United along with Newport teammates Siegfried and fellow defender Sophia Riggan. She said she would like to compete for a Division 3 program in college, or maybe play club.

Wherever she ends up, expect Rausch’s competitive nature to carry her through.

“Last year, I was very timid,” she said. “I didn’t feel like I wanted the ball that much, because I wasn’t comfortable enough with my stick skills. This year, after so many practices, I was trying to take charge and do the things I knew I could do and show my stuff. I really wanted to be a starting defender this year.”

She accomplished that goal.

She’s not sorry about it, either.

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Jordan Rausch

Born: Jan. 4, 1998

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 5-foot-7

Sport: Lacrosse

Year: Junior

Coach: Matt Armstrong

Favorite food: Italian food

Favorite movie: “If I Stay”

Favorite athletic moment: Scoring two goals this season for Newport Harbor.

Week in review: Rausch, a defender, had five ground balls and a goal as Newport Harbor rallied to beat El Dorado, 8-6, on April 30 and clinch a share of the Century SE League title.