FINAL SHO: Shoshi Henderson heads to goal during her career with the Pomona-Pitzer College women’s lacrosse team. Former Princeton High standout Henderson ended her career setting program records in points (384) and assists (272). In her senior campaign, attacker Henderson tallied 30 goals and 54 assists to help the Sagehens go 18-3 and reach the NCAA Division III Round of 16. (Photo provided courtesy of Pomona-Pitzer Athletics)
By Bill Alden
Although Shoshi Henderson was hampered by a nagging hip injury this spring, that didn’t keep her from setting more records as she wrapped up an historic career with the Pomona-Pitzer College women’s lacrosse team.
Former Princeton High standout Henderson ended her college career with program records in points (384) and assists (272).
But as star attacker Henderson tallied 30 goals and 54 assists this spring to set those standards and help the Sagehens go 18-3 and reach the NCAA Division III Round of 16, it was a struggle.
“I had a little bit of a hip injury; being in pain when running made things a little bit harder and a little less fun,” said Henderson.“In the midseason you are in a grind of having just so many games. I was able to get my hip to be playable. This is the first year I had a real injury. I never missed a game but I missed weeks of practices. I would be doing very little and then I would play in a game. Having to adjust that way was hard. I definitely needed to be mentally tougher.”
Pomona-Pitzer got off to a fun start this spring, winning its first nine games.
“We normally start with the first half of SCIAC (Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) games which helps us get in the groove and figure out out offense,” said Henderson. “I think our offense always takes a little bit more time than our defense to really click. We are always good but it is always something that just needs a little bit more time. We had a freshman starting with us and she was amazing. We had a lot of new middie lines this year so there was much more rotating.”
Henderson started taking draw controls to help jump start the Sagehen offense.
“I actually ended up doing the draw, I am most proud of my draw controls,” said Henderson, who had 18 draw controls this season and scooped up 37 ground balls. “A couple of games into the season my coach (Sarah Queener) decided that I needed to be taking the draw again. She said, ‘I know you did this senior year of high school, you are going to do it again.’ For a week, she trained me every day after practice and I would work on it. That honestly was so much fun and a great way of getting out of my head and having a new focus.”
A 13-8 loss to Colorado College in late March turned out to a be a low point of the season for Pomona-Pitzer.
“We were in Colorado; it was the third day after back-to-back games there and we were all dealing with the altitude which is apparently worse after the third day,” said Henderson. “Everyone had a collective falling apart, there was no one wrong thing that happened that game. It was like every single part of the field was not clicking. The ball bounced in the wrong direction every time, sometimes quite literally into their sticks. It was just not our game which really hurt because we had never lost to them.”
Engaging in some soul-searching, the Sagehens bounced back from that setback and reeled off another nine-game winning streak.
“After that game, we really locked in with our coaches but also as captains,” said Henderson. “The five of us captains really wanted to assert the tone of our team and be like, hey we have some really high goals for our team and we have some big expectations for this team. We have been here for four years and we are used to winning a lot. We all need to just put a little more effort in outside of practice, doing stickwork and wall ball. It was shifting the focus and let’s just focus on ourselves and get as good as we can possibly get and we can go really far.”
Displaying that focus, Pomona-Pitzer edged Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges 15-12 in the SCIAC championship game in early May to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tourney,
“It was really exciting, that was a great game,” said Henderson, who tallied two goals and two assists in the win. “We just played really well from the start. That was going to be the fourth straight SCIAC win for the seniors, the five of us, and we said are not losing this game. We never lost to CMS, we were not going to lose then. They are our big rival. We had a lot of big games from a lot of people. I had two goals in that game and both of them were some of my favorites that I have scored. That was a really, really fun game. It was intense but we had our foot on the gas the whole game.”
In the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Sagehens got a rematch with Colorado College and took advantage of their second chance against the Tigers, rolling to a 23-10 win.
“We were so fired up because this is when it mattered, we were a little shocked that they sent them to us in the first round,” said Henderson, who chipped in three goals in the victory. “It was 100 or something degrees, this time we had the weather on our side. I think we knew if we set the tone early, they were just going to kind of fall apart, they were going to be tired. We just kind of dominated in the second half (outscoring Colorado College 12-2). We were so happy, we had so much energy.”
Facing eventual national runner-up Tufts in the Round of 16, Pomona-Pitzer fell 16-8 to end the spring with an 18-3 record.
“I thought we could win, I always have hope, there is no reason you can’t have an upset,” said Henderson, who had one goal and one assist in her college finale. “They are really, really good. Once we kind of realized that this was going to be our last game, it just became I want to play and have so much fun and I had so much fun. It was a bittersweet way to go but that is who we lost to my freshman year so it is kind of full circle.”
With the game taking place the same day as the school’s graduation ceremony, Henderson and her fellow seniors had fun after the game as the team celebrated its Class of ’25 on the road.
“One of our freshmen is from Boston and she hosted all of us,” said Henderson. “Our parents and teammates made a huge graduation for us and it was really special. It was a really sweet way to end and it made it not so sad.”
For Henderson, setting the program offensive records was a huge achievement.
“It is pretty special, I have a little bit of a legacy that I get to leave behind,” said Henderson. “It was something that I always had my eye on after my freshman year when I set some of the other records (scoring 132 points on 42 goals and 90 assists). I was like wow, that is attainable if I keep going so it was always something I had in the back of my mind. It is really special to me because of how much the team means to me and how much time and effort I put in. To have not just the team accolades but having those individual records is special and just fun to have.”
In reflecting on her career accomplishments, Henderson acknowledged that she couldn’t do it alone, crediting fellow senior stars Fiona Lewis (255 goals) and Sydney Landauer (382 points) with playing a major role in her success.
“I also did so with Fiona and Sydney, the two other attackers, we all left our mark,” said Henderson. “I had so much fun playing with them. None of my records would have stood without them. The two of them really made that easy for me. I think Sydney ended up second in points and Fiona had so many goals. The three of us are cemented in that record book.”
Henderson also had fun shouldering more responsibility this spring as a team captain.
“I took a leadership class in the fall because it was something I was interested in and it really made me learn about all of these leadership frameworks and theories,” said Henderson. “It was not necessarily like sports leadership but it definitely fit. That really helped me think about what kind of a framework of a leader I wanted to be in the spring for our team. Leading by example is something I really feel is important. If people see all of the effort I put into it, they are more likely to do it. It is also just being genuine and wanting to help. I got close with a lot of the freshmen. It is always fun to have underclassmen to take under your wing.”
In reflecting on her Pomona-Pitzer experience, Henderson sees getting close with her coaches and teammates as a major highlight.
“The lacrosse team was the most special team I have ever been a part of, there was such a positive environment,” said Henderson. “The coaches were so supportive, they were people I could go to any time, even now as a graduate. I am really close with my coaches. I am now in the alumni network with the past lacrosse people. There is always that connection.”
Henderson is proud of helping the Sagehen lacrosse program reach new heights during her time there.
“I came in as a freshman and we were unranked as a team and my goal was to get us ranked and we did,” said Henderson who is joining another team this summer as she will be working for Unilever in Hoboken in its Future Leaders Program.
“At the end of my freshman year we had cracked the top 25. After my junior year, we were in the top 10. I think the highest ranking we ended up with was eighth. That is definitely something I am most proud of, getting this team on the map. I think we earned our respect as a west coast team. It is only going to go up from there because the recruits are getting better and better each year.”
It will be hard, though, for any of those recruits to match what Henderson achieved over the last four years at Pomona-Pitzer.