Oceanside Sailors varsity girls lacrosse team dedicates game to 'fierce' player lost to leukemia
Players for the Oceanside Sailors varsity lacrosse team honor, Friday, former player Ava Salonia, who died of acute myeloid leukemia on Aug. 17 2023. Credit: Howard Simmons
Before winning the game, the Oceanside Sailors varsity girls lacrosse teammates stood hand-in-hand during a moment of silence for a player whose image hung high above the field Friday evening.
The Oceanside High School home game against the Baldwin Bruins marked the school’s second annual showing dedicated to Ava Salonia, a lacrosse player who died following a nearly 12-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia in 2023. She was 16.
Following the national anthem, the Oceanside girls, including Salonia’s younger sister, Ella , stood hand-in-hand in a circle as a slideshow of photos of Salonia played on the field’s digital scoreboard. Instead of their usual blue and white, the players sported orange, the color for leukemia awareness.
Before watching Ella play in Friday night's game, Salonia’s mother, Jessica, recalled how her eldest daughter was "fierce" during games, and lived for lacrosse even when illness kept her off the field.
"When she was home and the lacrosse team started playing again she became the manager and they let her do the books," Jessica Salonia said. "She just loved to be around the game."
Friday evening, spectators donated to the Ava Salonia Memorial Scholarship, which will award two $500 scholarships to worthy Oceanside seniors this June, Salonia’s mother said.
"Ava was a very sweet, compassionate, kind girl ... and always found the good in everybody," she said. The awards in her honor will go to "any student that has those traits, that goes out of their way for others, shows empathy toward others."
During a halftime ceremony, Oceanside athletic director Tom Lehman presented Salonia’s mother and father, Ralph, with a pair of framed Oceanside jerseys sporting their daughter’s number, 8. Lehman said Salonia’s presence at games even when she could not play meant "the world" to her teammates.
"I think that inspired the rest of the girls," Lehman said before the game.
Salonia was "in and out of the hospital" during her final year, undergoing chemotherapy and even a bone-marrow transplant, her mother said. To help her pass the time in the hospital, friends and loved ones visited, and some began bringing crafts.
Marcella Abbott, the mother of one of Salonia’s friends, said some craft ideas were as simple as paper bag snowflakes, but grew into an effort that still exists at Cohen Children's Medical Center, where Salonia received treatment.
Abbott and Salonia began decorating cosmetic-style bags adorned with initials and signed "Love Ava," she said. The initial batch of 10 bags Salonia made featured the initials of her younger sisters — Ella and Angie — her mother and several of her friends. The next batch was dedicated to her favorite nurses.
Last year’s game in her honor raised money to keep this craft bag effort going. Abbott expects to drop a few hundred off at the hospital in the coming weeks. Kids at Cohen’s can now create these cosmetic bags, or now, drawstring bags, for themselves and loved ones. In addition to the letters and other craft supplies, the kids and teens can finish each bag with a stamp that reads "Love Ava."
"I feel like it gives them a sense of independence," Abbott said of patients at Cohen’s. "Ava came up with that idea ... when she was with us. It will never stop."
Before winning the game, the Oceanside Sailors varsity girls lacrosse teammates stood hand-in-hand during a moment of silence for a player whose image hung high above the field Friday evening.
The Oceanside High School home game against the Baldwin Bruins marked the school’s second annual showing dedicated to Ava Salonia, a lacrosse player who died following a nearly 12-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia in 2023. She was 16.
Following the national anthem, the Oceanside girls, including Salonia’s younger sister, Ella , stood hand-in-hand in a circle as a slideshow of photos of Salonia played on the field’s digital scoreboard. Instead of their usual blue and white, the players sported orange, the color for leukemia awareness.
The Oceanside Sailors, in a moment of silence, remember former player Ava Salonia, who died of acute myeloid leukemia on Aug. 17 2023. Credit: Howard Simmons
Before watching Ella play in Friday night's game, Salonia’s mother, Jessica, recalled how her eldest daughter was "fierce" during games, and lived for lacrosse even when illness kept her off the field.
"When she was home and the lacrosse team started playing again she became the manager and they let her do the books," Jessica Salonia said. "She just loved to be around the game."
Friday evening, spectators donated to the Ava Salonia Memorial Scholarship, which will award two $500 scholarships to worthy Oceanside seniors this June, Salonia’s mother said.
"Ava was a very sweet, compassionate, kind girl ... and always found the good in everybody," she said. The awards in her honor will go to "any student that has those traits, that goes out of their way for others, shows empathy toward others."
During a halftime ceremony, Oceanside athletic director Tom Lehman presented Salonia’s mother and father, Ralph, with a pair of framed Oceanside jerseys sporting their daughter’s number, 8. Lehman said Salonia’s presence at games even when she could not play meant "the world" to her teammates.
"I think that inspired the rest of the girls," Lehman said before the game.
Salonia was "in and out of the hospital" during her final year, undergoing chemotherapy and even a bone-marrow transplant, her mother said. To help her pass the time in the hospital, friends and loved ones visited, and some began bringing crafts.
Marcella Abbott, the mother of one of Salonia’s friends, said some craft ideas were as simple as paper bag snowflakes, but grew into an effort that still exists at Cohen Children's Medical Center, where Salonia received treatment.
Abbott and Salonia began decorating cosmetic-style bags adorned with initials and signed "Love Ava," she said. The initial batch of 10 bags Salonia made featured the initials of her younger sisters — Ella and Angie — her mother and several of her friends. The next batch was dedicated to her favorite nurses.
Last year’s game in her honor raised money to keep this craft bag effort going. Abbott expects to drop a few hundred off at the hospital in the coming weeks. Kids at Cohen’s can now create these cosmetic bags, or now, drawstring bags, for themselves and loved ones. In addition to the letters and other craft supplies, the kids and teens can finish each bag with a stamp that reads "Love Ava."
"I feel like it gives them a sense of independence," Abbott said of patients at Cohen’s. "Ava came up with that idea ... when she was with us. It will never stop."
