Picone shows leadership on and off the field for West Seneca East

WEST SENECA - As a senior leader on a young team, West Seneca East girls lacrosse standout Emily Picone is looking to help the younger players on the squad get better. That's starting to show up on the scoreboard.

"I'm just looking to bring this team together and make sure we're all doing the best we can," Picone said.

While she's been big for the Trojans with her leadership skills off the field, Picone has also been a force with her stick on the field. She has a team leading nine assists and ranks second on the club in goals with 29 and points with 38.

After starting the season at 2-7, West Seneca East has been vastly improved over the past month. The Trojans have won four of six with the lone losses coming to powerful Frontier and Hamburg. Picone has been right in the middle of all that, scoring 11 goals in the six-game span.

As the young team starts to mesh together, there’s no telling how good the Trojans can become by the time the Section VI playoffs get here.

"We're definitely getting better," Picone said. "We're getting used to playing with each other and everyone is really stepping up."

Not bad for a team that lost 11 seniors and a few other players from last year's team, most notably Metro Group Player of the Year Julia Suriani. But that doesn't mean there's not plenty of firepower left at West Seneca East.

"We have a few girls that are showing what we can do," Picone said. "A lot of girls are stepping up."

Leadership has been a big reason for that success. Picone is one of three captains, along with fellow senior Amber Czaja and junior Katy Prosvirninia.

“Our captains are doing a nice job of leading us,” West Seneca East coach Rick Schmitt said. “We’re a really young team, but I’m very happy with the way things have gone lately.”

Picone saw playing time in 15 of 17 games last season, collecting four goals and four assists. West Seneca East finished 17-5 and reached the sectional semifinals in Class B.

Only time will tell how far this year’s team can go, but with only three seniors on the roster, next season should be a real good one. This is it for Picone, Czaja and Kelly Smigiera, however, and that group of seniors wants to go out on top.

“Hopefully we can just keep it going,” Picone said. “We’ve had a lot of good transition goals and some nice passes. Hopefully we can keep getting better.”