On April 2, the Madison High School Girls Lacrosse team will kick off their season, at home, against Oak Knoll. The girls are coming off of a 15-4 season and Freedom South Championship and looking to compete in a much more difficult division.
After promotion, the team is moving from the Freedom South division to the Stars and Stripes Blue division. This year they will be challenged with playing some of the most skilled teams in the state. Teams like Kent Place, Mountain Lakes and Westfield are all in their new division. They are also playing a lot of very skilled out-of-division opponents. They will face Chatham, Ridgewood and Oak Knoll, all who won their respective state titles last year.
The team lost two key players in Wagner commit, Rileigh Baggett and Elon commit, Gwen Eilender. Baggett held down the fort on the defensive end, while Eilender was essential to their offensive success. Despite these two losses they are returning a lot of their offensive firepower. Their best two scorers in juniors, Gabby Mariani and Hadley Holland, are returning and are hopeful for a big season. In the off-season, both announced their commitments to D1 schools. Mariani will be attending Rutgers University and Holland will be attending the University of Southern California.
Holland led the team with 70 goals and 96 points and Mariani was right behind her with 50 goals. So, while the offense is still looking promising, some big changes were made on the defensive side. Graduating Baggett was a big loss, but senior captain Katherine Finnegan is returning and ready to slide into that role. The two of them were essential to the defensive success of the team last year. Finnegan put up an impressive stat line with 22 ground balls and 23 forced turnovers and is looking to improve this season. The projected starting defensive lineup for the team this year is seniors Beth Lennon, Paige Lutz and Katherine Finnegan, alongside junior Anna Stuart.
Behind that defensive line,is senior goalie, Sophia Modi, who has been the team’s anchor since freshman year. Over her career she has made an impressive 370 saves in just 54 games. When asked about her improvement since freshman year she said “every year the team has been really supportive of me, each year my confidence grows as the team grows.” With her in net, and a strong defensive core, the team should be in for a successful year.
The team is turning to captains Katherine Finnegan, Sophia Modi and Paige Lutz for leadership. Lutz said her main focus is “working together and lifting each other up” in order to maintain success within the program. As all three of them have been on the varsity squad since freshman year they know the ins and outs of a successful team. They reached the sectional finals their freshman year, but suffered a heartbreaking loss to Glen Ridge. Everyone come out and support the team as they look to make a run back to the section finals! If you need their schedule, you can find it in the link below.
https://highschoolsports.nj.com/school/madison-madison/girlslacrosse/season/2023-2024/