The Holy Spirit High School girls lacrosse team had already piled up a stack of achievements that hadn’t been seen before during the history of the program. They carried it proudly on their shoulders more than 100 miles north from Absecon to Hunterdon Central High School as the Spartans took on Princeton Day School in the Non-Public B state championship June 4.
Holy Spirit got there early and took a moment to breathe it all in.
“We sat in a circle and talked about how proud we were to make it here,” senior captain Maggie Cella said. “It’s an honor. We never would have thought in a million years that we would have made it here.”
This season, Holy Spirit won the most games in the program’s history (16) and won its first division title by capturing the Cape Atlantic League National Division. The Spartans were hoping to add one more accolade by winning their first state crown, but were beat out by Princeton Day, 17-11, in the state championship game. The Panthers were the top seed and the favorites. The Spartans made them sweat.
“I told them to be incredibly proud of themselves because I am proud of them,” Holy Spirit coach Kylie Primeau said. “Like I tell everybody, dedication, hard work, commitment and determination are all things that helped to get us where we are.”
The Spartans were fast out of the gate, opening the scoring on a goal by Brielle Soltys and taking a 2-1 on a tally by Maddie Abbott. But Princeton Day went on a five-goal run over the next 10 minutes to build a four-goal lead. The Spartans chipped away a few times, getting within three goals on five different occasions but were unable to complete the comeback.
“That was our goal,” said Cella, who scored twice. “We were going to play start to finish. We knew we had to work every second of it and, honestly, I think we did our best.”
The Spartans were led by a trailblazing Class of 2022 that stepped into leadership roles a year early when the team didn’t have a single senior on the roster last season.
They each made a contribution. Cella and Leah Corkhill filled up the scoresheet, while defenders Sophie Sobocinski and Savannah Keyser held the other teams off it. Emma Watson and Madeline Price contributed secondary scoring for the Spartans.
“I’m just happy I got to spend my last year bettering the program so much and taking a leader role,” Watson said. “It really impacted my whole experience at Holy Spirit. I’m so glad for seasons to come that they can see how much history we made this season. No one has ever gone this far in lacrosse at our school.”
Watson’s sophomore sister Hanna and a talented group of younger players will try to take it even further.
“I told my underclassmen that we’ll be back,” said Primeau who wrapped up her second year as coach. “Just to see where we came from and where we are now is incredible. I’m very excited for next year already.”
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