Girls’ Lacrosse Ends Season 11-5, Changes Team Image and Improves Upon Last Year’s 6-9 Record
Exeter girls’ lacrosse produced a fantastic season, its best since 2011. Big Red finished the year 11-5 with plenty of impressive wins. The team completely flipped the league-wide view of the Exeter lacrosse program. After last year’s disappointing 6-9 campaign, the team came in this year as an underdog in most of its games. Knowing its status as an underdog, the girls were eager to prove everyone wrong this season.
The team was very pleased with their success this season. “I am beyond proud of the team. We beat teams like Thayer and Deerfield that Exeter girls' lacrosse has not beaten in years,” senior captain Leo Liautaud said. They were able to hand a huge loss to the heavily-favored Deerfield team in a 16-11 victory. New Hampton was another big win, as the team edged out an 11-10 victory against one of the best teams they played all year. Coach Christina Breen was pleasantly surprised with the team’s success. “I was honestly hoping we would go .500 this year. I would have been pleased with 8-8 as a sign of the team moving in the right direction. The 11-5 record was a surprise, and speaks well to our potential next year,” Breen said.
Much of the team’s success can be attributed to the influx of talent this year. The underclassmen played a heavy role in many of the team’s wins. The three preps—Bella Edo, Hannah Gustafson and Emily Ryan—provided valuable minutes for the team. Lowers Jacie Lemos, with her excellent play all over the field, her goal scoring ability and fantastic defensive play; Bronwin Shields, winning draw controls and scoring goals; and Josie Russ, making incredible play after incredible play on defense, were all vital to Big Red’s success.
Exeter’s youth was a blessing and a curse. “I could attribute four of our five losses this season to our youth and inexperience. As the girls get older, get more accustomed to each other as players, and gain more confidence in themselves, they will meet their full potential, I am sure of it,” Coach Breen said. Though it may have cost them some wins, no one can complain as the team turned what was supposed to be a rebuilding year into a year where Exeter is now viewed as a top team again. The youth will ultimately bode well for the team.
The excellent team play was crucial for Exeter’s success. “We had eight or nine different people contribute heavily in the goal scoring, which allows us to have a lot of different options offensively,” Liautaud said. Ball movement and unselfishness made Exeter’s offense great. Even the top goal-scorers such as Lemos and Liautaud were willing to give up the ball in order to get good shots on net. The team worked well together in-game and on the practice field.
“This team was truly one unit. From the girls who started and played most of the games, to the girls who had limited playing time but who came to each practice ready to work hard and improve and support their teammates, every member played an important role,” Breen said.
The most important trait of this Exeter squad was the chemistry. “There was an excellent team dynamic and attitude this season. There was no complaining or finger-pointing. We’re just a crazy group of girls that get along well and love playing lacrosse every day. That is the biggest difference between last year and this year,” Lemos said.
The team made sure to always put in the necessary work to improve. “We pushed each other in practice to do better and work for one another on the field and that is what really made us succeed,” Liautaud said.
Exeter improved in many areas throughout the season, which turned a rough start into the many great wins the team had. “Our first game against Choate when we were up by six goals and then let them come back and win in overtime still frustrates us, but we actually value the lesson that game taught us as we translated our anger into determination so to not allow such a defeat to happen again,” Liautaud said. Early on in the season, Big Red started out most games very strong. But they often let up and allowed teams to come back, making the game close or allowing the other team to pilfer the win. The team adopted the motto “Full 50” in order to push themselves to always play the entire 50 minutes of every game. “Hard work day in and day out and commitment to play the ‘Full 50,’ doing the hard work from the first whistle to the last horn, allowed us to do well this season,” Breen said.
Both the team’s ability to dissect their own mistakes and fix them on a game to game basis allowed for slow and steady improvement throughout the season. “The coaches and players were great at analyzing our play each game and making adjustments. For example, we had a tough time clearing the ball from the goalie during our Nobles game, so the next week in practice we worked on our clears and they improved dramatically,” Lemos said.
The athletes were not able to claim the most important game of the season against Andover. The team fell 13-8 to Big Blue. “I know that we are a much better team than them, but we just did not play up to our ability that day,” Liautaud said. The team just had an off day, which can happen with such a young team.
The majority of the team will be returning next season. Liautaud and senior co-captain Hannah Wellington will be graduating this year, along with Alyssa Heinze and Kat Racine. The team will still have upper captain Marley Jenkins, and a core which will only grow and improve. The future only looks bright for Big Red girls’ lacrosse. As Liautaud said, “The team next year is going to be amazing.”