BIG FINISH: Stuart Country Day School lacrosse player Abby Chirik heads to goal in a game this season. Senior captain Chirik produced a big final season for the Tartans, tallying 25 goals and seven assists with 72 ground balls and 27 draw controls. Stuart went 3-12 this spring under first-year head coach Jarrett Luoma. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)

By Bill Alden

As Jarrett Luoma took the helm of the Stuart Country Day School lacrosse program this spring, he emphasized three Ws.

“My coaching philosophy is to work on the three Ws — want, work, and win,” said Luoma. “The want is we have got to figure out what each individual player wants out of lacrosse. Work is to put in the work every single day with daily deposits. That is what we do. Once you have your want in mind, you are putting your daily deposits and we are doing our workload, that is when the wins start coming.”

While Stuart didn’t win its season finale as it fell 22-13 to Immaculata in late May, it displayed the fruits of that daily labor with a superb offensive effort as it ended the spring with a 3-12 record.

“We didn’t get the result that we wanted but the offense was clicking and I think it was a great way to end,” said Luoma, who got three goals and two assists from Abby Chirik in the contest with Betsy Murphy tallying four goals and two assists and Lauren Lee chipping in four goals. “We can hang our hats on that going into next year understanding that you can get to 13, you can get to 15, and you can get 17. It is starting to get that belief in ourselves. I think it is going be really good for us going forward. We started to figure out our want and started to figure out how to work. We are going build on that and next year we are going to come out a little bit stronger and we are going to look like a different team.”

Over the course of the season, Stuart got some really good work from senior star and captain Chirik, who tallied 25 goals and seven assists with 72 ground balls and 27 draw controls.

“Abby was such a great leader,” said Luoma of Chirik who is headed to Princeton University where she plans to play club sports. “Look at the stats, she literally did everything. She was the consummate captain. She did the dirty work, she did scoring, she did draws. Abby is what you want in a captain and what you want from your seniors.”

The squad’s two other seniors, Hadelyn Martinez Cambero (6 ground balls) and Najma Tahiry (24 ground balls), also made a big contribution.

“Hadelyn was so great at being positive and keeping the vibes up,” said Luoma. “I think a lot of times in high school sports, it gets very competitive and becomes more than it is. Hadelyn did such a great job of taking us back down to earth, saying, ‘Hey it is a sport, it is supposed to be fun.’ We are out here together, we enjoy each other’s company, so we are good to go. Najma was our biggest communicator on defense. She came in with a level of intensity that brought up the level of our defense. She was also communicating with the other girls. Hey you gotta be here, you gotta be there and that type of stuff.”

Junior standouts Lauren Lee (37 goals, 10 assists) and Betsy Murphy (25 goals, 19 assists) provided some high level offensive play for the Tartans.

“Lauren is going to be our backbone next year as she kind of was this year,” said Luoma. “She took a lot of draws, being the catalyst of our offense and allowing us to get ourselves started. She is going to go back to her club season. She is going to have a stick in her hands every single day and is going to improve and get better. Betsy is primed to make another jump next year. She is one of these girls where when she is locked in, there are not many girls in the state of N.J. who can stay in front of her. Betsy and Lauren are both going to be big, big parts of our offense next year and parts of our defense.”

A third junior, Hadassah Broughton (14 goals, 3 assists), also showed potential.

“Hadassah is great, she is a very high level athlete,” said Luoma. “She is like Betsy where there aren’t many girls who can stay in front of her when she gets downhill. We just have to start getting her going downhill and moving a little bit more often.”

On defense, junior Mayah Chennault (6 ground balls) emerged as a key performer.

“Her athleticism speaks for itself, she can run for days,” said Luoma of Chennault. “She is very, very good at staying in front of people and making people’s lives harder. She isn’t necessarily going to be taking the ball away but she is going to get in front of you and is going to speed you up so you are going to have to make decisions a little bit faster than you want to. If you are not ready for that, you are going to turn the ball over. She is an elite disrupter.”

Teaming with Chennault, junior Maeve Wall (10 ground balls) helped solidify the Stuart back line.

“Maeve was the backbone of our defense, she was a pretty big communicator with Najma,” said Luoma. “She set the tone. If it started to get a little hairy for us, Maeve is going to come in make a play. It is taking the ball away from a girl, being an enforcer and going to get a tough ground ball. She was instrumental for us this year locking in on our defense.”

The play of neophyte junior goalie Marlie Conway was instrumental for the Tartans this spring.

“I have to shout out to my goalie Marlie, she was a first year goalie and had over 100 saves on the season,” said Luoma. “I remember when she came in during spring break and it was her first time ever putting on goalie pads. For her going from that to turning into what she was doesn’t come out of nowhere. She had 23 saves and then a 17-save game respectively. She put the time in, she put the work in. She got exponentially better than what she was on her first day. That is somebody I couldn’t be more proud of. She stepped up.”

For Luoma, going through his first year at the helm of the Stuart program proved to be an enlightening experience.

“I am used to being either an offensive coordinator or a defensive coordinator and focusing on one side of the ball so focusing on both sides of the ball, that is a lot,” said Luoma. “There was definitely a learning curve that I had to go through. I was helped out so much by my assistant coach Megan Reeves, she did an absolutely amazing job. Now that I have a better footing about what I need to do, we are going to be a better team next year.”

In getting that footing, Luoma was buoyed by the response of the players.

“I just want shout out to the girls because they were so coachable, they were so open-minded,” said Luoma. “I think we have a lot of really good lacrosse players but what I am more proud of is that we have exceptional people. They are just naturally likable. It was a beautiful thing to be part of because those girls made me a better person. They are great people.”