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May 30, 2023 — Top 10 for the week of May 28
There’s only about three weeks left in the domestic lacrosse season, with a number of major hurdles for teams to clear, especially with an eye towards the New York public school championship, which has the usual challenges before the teams that manage to win their sectional championship.
I think a lot of interesting results will come through Pennsylvania, whose bracket gets released in a few days, and a major tourney to watch is, of course, the CIAC Class L championship, where Darien, should the Wave make the final, will face the survivor of the lower draw in which sits New Canaan, Wilton, and a Newtown team which just happens to be undefeated on the season..
1. Darien (Conn.) 16-0
The Wave take on Stamford (Conn.) in the quarterfinal round of the CIAC Class L Tournament today, one week after dominating the FCIAC Tournament
2. Owings Mills McDonogh (Md.) 20-1
Season complete: Eagles beat Brooklandville St. Paul’s (Md.) 13-9 in Class “A” Tournament final
3. Radnor Archbishop Carroll (Pa.) 19-1
Won Philadelphia Catholic League tournament with a 20-3 victory over Springfield Cardinal O’Hara (Pa.); PIAA tournament to start next week
4. Bayport-Blue Point (N.Y.) 15-0
After beating Shoreham-Wading River (N.Y.) the Phantoms take on Mount Sinai (N.Y.) in the Class C final tomorrow evening at Stony Brook University; should be a tremendous contest
5. Brooklandville St. Paul’s (Md.) 17-2
Season complete: The Gators fell to Owings Mills McDonogh (Md.) in the final of the IAAM Class “A” Tournament
6. Delray American Heritage (Fla.) 22-1
Season complete: The Stallions made their run through the FHSAA Class 1A tournament look easy, especially with an 11-4 win over Orlando Lake Highland Prep (Fla.) team in the final
7. Eldersburg Liberty (Md.) 13-1
Season complete: Lions beat Fallston (Md.) 14-10 to win the MPSSAA Class 1A final
8. South Huntington St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) 16-2
Season complete: The Friars beat Hempstead Sacred Heart (N.Y.) 8-7 in the CHSAA final
9. Manchester (Md.) Valley 16-0
Season complete: Manchester Valley came back from two goals down to beat Middletown (Md.) 15-7 in the MPSSAA Class 2A final
10. Danville San Ramon Valley (Calif.) 22-0
Season complete: The Wolves beat El Dorado Hills Oak Ridge (Calif.) 14-7 in the final of the CIF North Coast Section Tournament
Who’s out: None.
And bear in mind: Denver Colorado Academy (Colo.) 19-0, Greenwich (Conn.) Academy 8-2, Wilmington Tatnall (Del.) 17-1, Lutherville Maryvale Prep (Md.) 16-3, Severna Park (Md.) 19-3, Olney Good Counsel (Md.) 16-5, Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.) 15-4, Summit (N.J.) 16-2, Moorestown (N.J.) 16-3, Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) 16-1, Rush-Henretta (N.Y.) 16-1, Northport (N.Y.) 16-2, Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.) 22-1, Chantilly Paul VI (Va.) 18-6
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May 29, 2023 — After an interregnum, Northwestern re-ascends the mountain
Between 2005 and 2012, the Northwestern women’s lacrosse team won seven NCAA Division I titles and could have had an eighth but for losing a 6-0 lead that the team had built in the first nine minutes of play of the 2010 final.
Since 2012, Northwestern has been an elite team with elite players, but did not win a national title.
A handful of different circumstances hampered Northwestern in the last 10 years, including the fact that the game has grown significantly and there are more universities from which elite lacrosse players can choose. Stony Brook and Notre Dame were amongst the teams to end Northwestern’s season in the last decade.
And there was also last year’s seeming collapse on the past of Northwestern in a national semifinal against North Carolina. Northwestern had a seven-goal lead on UNC with 10 minutes to go, but Sam Geiersbach, a player UNC picked up in the transfer portal, went off. She had the last four goals for the Heels including the go-ahead goal with 1:03 left in regulation.
But Northwestern had a couple of final chances in the final minute of play. A couple of UNC turnovers against the high-pressure line of Northwestern led to a pair of open shots on goalie Taylor Moreno. The shots did not fall, Northwestern was eliminated, and UNC won the national final two days later.
These experiences, and more, were catalysts for the Wildcats during the team’s Final Four run, culminating in yesterday’s 18-6 win over Boston College in the 2023 title game.
Here’s what we think was the formula for Northwestern’s re-ascendancy:
1. Know your team and game-plan for the opponent. As impressive as they have been since Kelly Amonte-Hiller revived the program at the school two decades ago, this team did something which I think was unheard of. The Cats out-defended a defensive-minded Denver side in their 15-7 win in the semifinal round, then out-attacked one of the nation’s leading team goal scorers in Boston College.
2. You never know where your best player will come from. In the past, Northwestern was able to find great athletes from non-traditional areas, and even found the Koester twins from the school’s rugby program. Izzy Scane, from Michigan, was her usual excellent self with four goals, but the Most Outstanding Player was defensive midfielder Samantha White, who played her scholastic ball in public school in Baltimore County.
3. The transfer portal. Hailey Rhatigan, a transfer from Mercer University, had three goals. And in the back stood Molly Laliberty, who was a transfer from Division III Tufts. I’ve always known that there were good players who had fallen through the recruiting cracks into Division II and III, but this is the first time that I’ve seen a key player help steer a team to a national title at the Division I level.
4. Discipline. Boston College was yellow-carded five times during the game, leading to two Northwestern power-play goals. The Wildcats didn’t receive a single penalty card all game.
5. Value the ball. In an on-field interview, BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein mentioned the need to cut down on turnovers. Oddly enough, the official box score had the overall turnovers the same, at 21-19 for the Eagles. It was just that it seemed Boston College’s turnovers led to either goals or free-position chances.
6. Belief. A big part of Northwestern’s mental makeup in the 2000s was the “us against the world” mentality. From the coaching staff on down, the team took any word, any slight, any gesture as fuel for further domination. “We said at the beginning of the fall, ‘The most important thing is going to be believing,’” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said after the game. “We gotta believe, and I think it showed out there today.” It certainly was a return to the mentality that allowed Northwestern to dominate the world if Division I women’s lacrosse.
May 28, 2023 — Inside the NCAA Division I final
At nigh noon today, the 40th NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse championship will take place. We’ve got two championship-winning sides looking for supremacy after a season of winning efforts, new contenders, and countermeasures against great offenses:
NORTHWESTERN v. BOSTON COLLEGE
The obvious: These teams have met each other only six times, with each team winning three matches. The last time they met was on Feb. 19th, with Northwestern winning 15-14
The not-so-obvious: Both head coaches — BC’s Acacia Walker-Weinstein and Northwestern’s Kelly Amonte-Hiller — are part of the Cindy Timchal coaching tree, both having played for the University of Maryland. It is easy to forget, however, that Walker-Weinstein was an assistant at Northwestern for four years
Key players: NU: Izzy Scane (gr., a), Erin Coykendall, (sr., a), Hailey Rhatigan (gr., a), Madison Taylor (fr., a), Samantha Smith (so, c), Samantha White (so., d), Molly Laliberty (gr., g). BC: Jenn Medjid (gr., a), Shea Dolce (fr., g), Kayla Martello (jr., a), Cassidy Weeks (gr., m), Belle Smith (jr., m)
BC wins this game if: if Shea Dolce gets more than six or seven saves by halftime. She is one of those goaltenders who tends to get inside the heads of opposing shooters.
NU wins this game if: they give the ball to Scane and get out of the way. The Scane Train and faithful lieutenants are a group of wonderful players who were able to solve the Denver defense on Friday. I can’t see how Boston College can keep Northwestern from scoring more than their usual 15 goals
The unanswered questions: Will pace and rhythm mean anything to the coaching staffs? I have a feeling this is going to be an all-out track meet, and I think there are going to be a lot of yellows thrown in this game. I think at least one star player will not finish this game because of an accumulation of caution cards
May 26, 2023 — Friday Statwatch for games played through May 24
This week, as the state tournaments start winding down, you’re getting more and more players rising the leaderboard for scoring in girls’ scholastic lacrosse. Take, for example, your new national goals leader, attacker Caroline Ling. She finished her season Monday with her Springboro (Ohio) team losing 14-8 to Mason (Ohio) in an OHSAA Division I octofinal matchup. Ling, a junior, has committed to Rutgers for her collegiate career, which means that she will be on the same campus as current national field hockey scoring champion Olivia Fraticelli in a couple of years.
What you see below are from available sources, including MaxPreps, Berks Game Day, the KHSAA, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Advance Media. To make this list an even more complete one, I encourage you to adopt the easy-to-use MaxPreps.com platform, and we encourage you to get your fellow teams to enter their information there as well as whichever is your local news site, so that we can aim for as complete a statistical picture of the country as possible.
GOALS SCORED, SEASON
167 Caroline Ling, Springboro (Ohio)
158 Vanni Intini, Fayetteville (N.C.) Academy
151 Riley Sterling, Palo Alto Castilleja (Calif.)
140 Sara Williams, Winter Haven All Saints Academy (Fla.)
136 Caroline Cage, Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (Ohio)
135 Ryann Frechette, St. John’s Bartram Trail (Fla.)
134 Jaryn Zdanavage, Irvine Portoia (Calif.)
131 Scarlett Gilner, Chapel Hill (N.C.)
130 Mikayla Williams, Columbus Bexley (Ohio)
129 Olivia Prosper, Draper Juan Diego Catholic (Utah)
126 Emily Walker, Bristol St. Paul Catholic (Conn.)
126 Sienna Chirieleison, Camp Hill Trunity (Pa.)
ASSISTS, SEASON
142 Lauren Hayden, Newport Croatan (N.C.)
87 Emily Phillips Wake Forest (N.C.)
87 Sophia Richardson, Lexington Sayre (Ky.)
87 Polly Miller, Fayetteville (N.C.) Academy
82 Charlee Nyquist, Lake Mary (Fla.)
78 Riley Nee (Hampstead Topsail (N.C.)
76 Taylor McGovern, Margery Stoneman Douglas (Fla.)
76 Ava Sebben, Lombard Montini Catholic (Ill.)
75 Allie Hirst, Southern Pines Pinecrest (N.C.)
74 Sophie Warren, Lakewood Green Mountain (Colo.)
72 Aubrey Harrison, Fairmount (W.Va.) Senior
70 Gabbi Koury, Pottstown Owen J. Roberts (Pa.)
ACTIVE COACHING VICTORIES
850 Kathy Jenkins|
503 Lisa Lindley
450 Chris Robinson
This list isn’t perfect. We could use some help in adding statistics which may be missing. If you see something amiss (bearing in mind that this is supposed to be a snapshot of lacrosse stats as of the end of play on Wednesday), please feel free to send an email to us at TopOfTheCircle.com. Include some backup (a website link will do), and we can make corrections.
Thanks for reading and we’ll try to do better next time.
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May 25, 2023 — Inside the NCAA Division I Final Four
Tomorrow, the real business of choosing an NCAA Division I champion begins. Four very good sides, each with generational athletes and coaches willing to employ them to their fullest extent, will be facing off at Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.
Here’s our worm’s eye view of the championships:
NORTHWESTERN v. DENVER
The obvious: A classic matchup of offense vs. defense. Northwestern has scored more than 10 goals in every game but one this season. Denver choked the very life out of the North Carolina offense last Thursday in the national quarterfinal round in the Pioneers’ 5-4 win
The not-so-obvious: There is a lot to be said for experience; Northwestern has made the Final Four 14 times under head coach Kelly Amonte-Hiller. This is Denver’s inaugural trip to the Final Four.
Key players: NU: Izzy Scane (gr., a), Erin Coykendall, (sr., a), Hailey Rhatigan (gr., a), Madison Taylor (fr., a), Samantha Smith (so, c), Samantha White (so., d), Molly Laliberty (gr., g). DU: Julia Gilbert (sr., a), Ryan Dineen (fr., a), Lauren Black (so., a), Trinity McPherson (gr., d), Abby Jenkins (jr., c), Emilia Bohl (so., g)
NU wins this game if: they score more than 15 goals. No way can Denver keep up in a track meet.
DU wins this game if: they can hold Northwestern under 10. I am certain the Denver coaching staff has gotten hold of the tape of the two games Northwestern played against Michigan on May 4 and May 14. In the first game, Northwestern won 18-11. In the second, Michgan improved on the defensive end, but fell 8-7.
The unanswered questions: What kind of game are we going to see? If it’s a track meet, like the 1996 semifinal between Temple and Maryland, Northwestern wins with ease. If it’s a lock-down match like the 1997 FIL Women’s World Cup, Denver’s more likely to win it.
SYRACUSE v. BOSTON COLLEGE
The obvious: Two conference rivals who didn’t meet in the ACC final because the Orange were eliminated by UNC on April 28. Their lone meeting was the final game of the regular season, with Syracuse losing 17-16.
The not-so-obvious: Let’s refocus you on Syracuse: the Orange, the No. 2 seed, had two defeats in an eight-day period late in April. That can’t happen at this stage if you’re a supporter of the Onondagans. Boston College is looking to see whether the post-Charlotte North boomlet of star players at The Heights can compete at the highest level.
Key players: SU: Meaghan Tyrrell (gr., a), Emma Tyrrell (sr., m), Emma Ward (jr., a), Megan Carney (gr., a), Olivia Adamson (so., c), Katie Goodale (jr., d), Delaney Sweitzer (sr., g). BC: Jenn Medjid (gr., a), Shea Dolce (fr., g), Kayla Martello (jr., a), Cassidy Weeks (gr., m), Belle Smith (jr., m)
SU wins this game if: the midfield draw team is able to start possessions and if Katie Goodale is able to make a mark on defense. Which of the Emmas/Tyrrells will be the unstoppable force?
BC wins this game if: if Shea Dolce has the game of her young life. She stole the starting job from Rachel Hall and has been magnificent throughout the latter portion of the season.
The unanswered questions: Which unit will break first — the B.C. defense or the S.U. defense? And, which goalie is going to have the first real 10-bell save? Will Dolce and/or Sweitzer be required to make several of that caliber of stop?
May 24, 2023 — Might Athletes Unlimited morph into a more typical North American naming convention?
For giggles, I took a survey on the Athletes Unlimited website a few days ago.
One of the lines of questioning was interesting. It involved whether or not fans of AU identified with a single favorite player, or the color of the uniform, or the captain of a particular team over the course of a weekend.
During the first couple of years of AU women’s lacrosse, I didn’t identify teams by the captain (Team Cummings, Team Moreno, Team Apuzzo, etc.). Instead, I gave them my own mental nicknames — Purple Reign, Orange Crush, Goldenrods, and the Sky Blues.
Those names fly in the face of most sports, which identify with a territorial designation — a neighborhood (Chelsea F.C.), a city (Boston Celtics), a region (Hampton Roads Admirals), or even an entire state (Utah Royals). Now, we’ve been hearing that Premier League Lacrosse — a men’s summer lacrosse league which travels all over the U.S. — is going to give its heretofore vagabond teams an actual city name.
I wouldn’t mind Athletes Unlimited doing the same, albeit there are doing to have to be more than four teams in each of the leagues in order to accomplish this.
May 23, 2022 — Top 10 for the week of May 21
With Maryland public schools ending their seasons this week and the always competitive FCIAC Tournament in Connecticut, there is liable to be a lot more movement in our Top 10 than there was last week, which saw nobody lose or drop out.
1. Darien (Conn.) 13-0
The Wave take on Stamford (Conn.) in the quarterfinal round of the FCIAC Tournament
2. Owings Mills McDonogh (Md.) 20-1
Season complete: Eagles beat Brooklandville St. Paul’s (Md.) 13-9 in Class “A” Tournament final
3. Radnor Archbishop Carroll (Pa.) 19-1
Won Philadelphia Catholic League tournament with a 20-3 victory over Springfield Cardinal O’Hara (Pa.)
4. Bayport-Blue Point (N.Y.) 15-0
After beating Shoreham-Wading River (N.Y.) last Saturday, the Phantoms take on Mount Sinai (N.Y.) in the Class C final a week from tomorrow
5. Brooklandville St. Paul’s (Md.) 17-2
Season complete: The Gators fell to Owings Mills McDonogh (Md.) in the final of the IAAM Class “A” Tournament
6. Delray American Heritage (Fla.) 22-1
Season complete: The Stallions made their run through the FHSAA Class 1A tournament look easy, especially with an 11-4 win over Orlando Lake Highland Prep (Fla.) team in the final
7. Eldersburg Liberty (Md.) 13-1
Lions meet Fallston (Md.) in the state final this afternoon
8. South Huntington St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) 16-2
Season complete: The Friars beat Hempstead Sacred Heart (N.Y.) 8-7 in the CHSAA final
9. Manchester (Md.) Valley 16-0
Manchester Valley takes on Middletown (Md.) in the MPSSAA Class 2A final on Thursday
10. Danville San Ramon Valley (Calif.) 22-0
Season complete: The Wolves beat El Dorado Hills Oak Ridge (Calif.) 14-7 in the final of the CIF North Coast Section Tournament
Who’s out: None.
And bear in mind: Denver Colorado Academy (Colo.) 19-0, Greenwich (Conn.) Academy 8-2, Lewes Cape Henlopen (Del.) 16-1, Lutherville Maryvale Prep (Md.) 16-3, Severna Park (Md.) 16-3, Olney Good Counsel (Md.) 16-5, Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.) 13-4, Summit (N.J.) 14-2, Cicero-North Syracuse (N.Y.) 15-1, Rush-Henretta (N.Y.) 15-1, Canandaigua (N.Y.) Academy 13-4, East Setauket Ward Melville (N.Y.) 15-2, Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.) 22-1, Chantilly Paul VI (Va.) 18-6
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May 21, 2023 — An overlooked team wins its first title in Division II
Pace University’s women’s lacrosse program began in the spring of 2015 with a lot of hope, a decent recruiting base in New York’s Westchester County, and the greatest nickname in Division II sport, the Pace Setters.
Perhaps the team may have been spoiled by early success, as the 2016 team won the ECAC Division II championship as its first major trophy.
But Pace went through its early existence as a team which would be in the thick of the Northeast-10 race, but would, somewhere along the line, fall short. Last year, for example, the team did not make the NE-10 final and was not given an invitation to the 2022 NCAA Division II Tournament.
This year, despite losing the NE-10 final to LeMoyne, the Setters were given the No. 1 seed in the East Regional. Though Pace won that region, the Setters were reseeded third after second-round play.
If that slight was motivation, it certainly showed. Pace won a national semifinal against Florida Southern by 11 goals, then beat West Chester University, a team with two national championships in its past, by 10 goals.
It was the fifth time in the last seven title games that a first-time champion was crowned, and third in the last three years.
May 19, 2023 — Friday Statwatch for games played through May 17
Welcome back to Statwatch, our attempt at collecting statistics from all over the nation to tell stories about players, teams, and even trends.
This week, our goals and assists leaders are in playoff mode. Vanni Intini, a sophomore attacking midfielder from Fayetteville (N.C.) Academy, finishes her season tomorrow in the NCISAA Division II Tournament against The Asheville (N.C.) School. She has 152 goals this season, but there are others waiting in the weeds looking to overtake her.
In the assists category, junior attacker Lauren Hayden has amassed 138 this season, which puts her already third all-time behind the remarkable Besser Dyson and Corinne Wessels in the all-time single-season assist list. Hayden and her Newport Croatan (N.C.) side are in the NCHSAA Division 1A/3A title match against Kernersville Bishop McGuinness (N.C.). Bishop McGuinness, incidentally, has a top scorer in Kathleen Dennen, who will be looking to improve on her 116 goals.
What you see below are from available sources, including MaxPreps, Berks Game Day, the KHSAA, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Advance Media. To make this list an even more complete one, I encourage you to adopt the easy-to-use MaxPreps.com platform, and we encourage you to get your fellow teams to enter their information there as well as whichever is your local news site, so that we can aim for as complete a statistical picture of the country as possible.
GOALS SCORED, SEASON
152 Vanni Intini, Fayetteville (N.C.) Academy
151 Riley Sterling, Palo Alto Castilleja (Calif.)
151 Caroline Ling, Springboro (Ohio)
140 Sara Williams, Winter Haven All Saints Academy (Fla.)
134 Jaryn Zdanavage, Irgine Portoia (Calif.)
131 Scarlett Gilner, Chapel Hill (N.C.)
125 Ryann Frechette, St. John’s Bartram Trail (Fla.)
120 Reilly Cormer, Denver Northfield (Colo.)
118 Alexandra Gladding, Pompano Beach Pine Crest (Fla.)|
116 Sienna Chirieleison, Camp Hill Trunity (Pa.)
116 Kathleen Dennen, Kernersville Bishop McGuinness (N.C.)|
115 Triniti Cassidy, Snellville Brookwood (Ga.)
ASSISTS, SEASON
138 Lauren Hayden, Newport Croatan (N.C.)
87 Emily Phillips Wake Forest (N.C.)
87 Sophia Richardson, Lexington Sayre (Ky.)
84 Polly Miller, Fayetteville (N.C.) Academy
82 Charlee Nyquist, Lake Mary (Fla.)
77 Riley Nee (Hampstead Topsail (N.C.)
76 Taylor McGovern, Margery Stoneman Douglas (Fla.)
75 Allie Hirst, Southern Pines Pinecrest (N.C.)
68 Lilli Forman, Pompano Beach Pine Crest (Fla.)
66 Addie Gilner, Chapel Hill (N.C.)
66 Aubrey Harrison, Fairmount (W.Va.) Senior
ACTIVE COACHING VICTORIES
850 Kathy Jenkins|
501 Lisa Lindley
450 Chris Robinson
We could use help rounding out this list, given the number of lacrosse teams who no longer are covered by newspapers or who don’t connect with MaxPreps. If you see something amiss (bearing in mind that this is supposed to be a snapshot of lacrosse stats as of the end of play on Wednesday), please feel free to send an email to us at TopOfTheCircle.com. Include some backup (a website link will do), and we can make corrections.
Thanks for reading and we’ll be back next week.
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May 18, 2023 — A goal and a game from the heavens
The 90-second possession clock had ticked down to five.
There was a shade over six minutes to go in an NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse game between fifth-seeded Denver University and the fourth seed, and defending national champion, North Carolina.
With the buzzer and expiration of the clock looming, Kayla DeRose, a graduate student wearing a black Denver jersey, swung left and, using two defenders as a partial (albeit legal) screen, unleashed a shot from about seven yards that found net.
In a game which had the pace and rhythm of a World Cup final from the early 1990s, that single goal proved to be priceless in Denver’s 5-4 win over UNC.
Denver, in making its first trip to the women’s lacrosse Final Four, held North Carolina to zero goals in the final 35 minutes of play. Sam Thacker, a defender late of Owings Mills McDonogh (Md.), was a defensive stalwart, and made a key late defensive play when she pounced on a loose pass out of an 8-meter free position with 1:42 to go. North Carolina never saw the ball in the critical scoring area again.
This game, and this season, has been a product of masterful coaching by former U.S. women’s national teamer Liza Kelly, who played her scholastic lacrosse in the nation’s greatest lacrosse conference, the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland.
It’s a testament to Kelly’s recruiting that she has been able to get enormously talented players from the likes of McDonogh, Towson Notre Dame Prep (Md.), Olney Good Counsel (Md.), Alexandria Bishop Ireton (Va.), Delray American Heritage (Fla.), and the super-prep team from Hill Academy in Ontario.
The team, flying the flag of Western lacrosse, has ensured that there will be a new national champion. Too, it also raised the percentage of potential first-time champions in Division I; as of 7 p.m. Thursday, three of the last five teams — Denver, Syracuse, and Loyola — are programs which have never won a national championship.
Perhaps this win is a harbinger of things to come in women’s lacrosse — new areas of the country, new powerhouses, and perhaps a new focus on defense.
It’s going to be interesting to see what the Pioneers do against the likes of Northwestern, Syracuse, and Boston College, who have scored boatloads of goals in 2023.
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