June 12, 2013

Showing Competitive Fire to the End, PDS Girls’ Lacrosse on the Right Track

DEFENSIVE ACTION: Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse player Louise Hutter heads up the field in action this spring. Senior star Hutter’s stellar work on defense this season helped PDS post a final mark of 6-7.(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

DEFENSIVE ACTION: Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse player Louise Hutter heads up the field in action this spring. Senior star Hutter’s stellar work on defense this season helped PDS post a final mark of 6-7. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Although the Princeton Day School girls’ lacrosse team lost three of its last four games this spring, Jill Thomas had no qualms with the effort she got from her players.

“I thought we played some really tough games down the stretch,” said PDS head coach Thomas, who guided her team to a 6-7 mark this season.

“We were down 15-4 at half to Kent Place in the Prep A tournament and came back to make it a close game. We gave Princeton High a run for their money in the county quarters.  We had a good game with Peddie. Hannah Levy got the 150th goal of her career in that game; it was one of 10 goals she had that day.”

The Panthers competed hard throughout the spring, posting impressive wins over Blair Academy, Hun School, and Rutgers Prep along the way.

“Nobody crushed us, Lawrenceville beat us by four, said Thomas, whose team topped Hightstown 12-2 in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament. “We are back on the right track.”

The team’s group of seniors set the right tone this spring for PDS. “The seniors did so much to bring the team back to the team,” asserted Thomas, whose Class of 2013 included Ellen Bartolino, Zeeza Cole, Lizzie Frieder, Louise Hutter. Carolyn Kussow, Hannah Levy, Cami McNeely, Sarah Trigg, and Connie Urisko.

“Zeeza was a great leader, after not playing the whole season last year, she finished on a high. Corinne was solid and worked hard. Hannah was great and she is going on to play at MIT. She and Corinne made first team All-Prep A this spring. They finished their careers and finished them well. They enjoyed being with the team for all four years; there was a lot of camaraderie.”

In Thomas’ view, there is a lot of reason for hope going forward with a number of good players returning.

“We have a lot of juniors coming back and they are good,” said Thomas, noting that juniors Sarah Brennan and Mary Travers emerged as stars this spring.

“[Morgan] Foster and [Kirsten] Kuzmicz are very good. If the four freshmen stay together, they are going to be good. Tess [Gecha], Rowan [Schomburg], Hope [Anhut] and Kate [Laughlin] know what it takes.

The younger PDS players learned some good lessons this spring that should come in handy down the road.

“If you work hard, then the sky is the limit,” said Thomas. “If you want to be good, you have to work hard. The seniors worked them pretty hard. They know the game is fast.”