COVID quashed dream season, but PC girls still look strong

by Tom Utescher
Posted 3/23/21

Looking over Penn Charter's current college commitments for women's lacrosse, and considering those made by the class of 2020, it's obvious that the Quakers could have been an exceptional franchise …

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COVID quashed dream season, but PC girls still look strong

Posted

Looking over Penn Charter's current college commitments for women's lacrosse, and considering those made by the class of 2020, it's obvious that the Quakers could have been an exceptional franchise in last year's season-that-never-was.

Charter's classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022 feature no fewer than 13 players destined for NCAA Division I careers, more than enough to fill out an entire starting line-up.

Although last year's graduating class took with it seven seniors (six going on to play D1 lacrosse, and one now playing basketball at Chestnut Hill College), the Quakers still were a commanding presence at a home field scrimmage last Saturday morning.

PC scored in the first minute and then rolled to a 16-0 halftime lead over visiting Harriton High School in the game-format workout. Harriton didn't get on the board until it converted off of a free position with a little over 14 minutes remaining in the second half. The final tally was 22-2.

After the graduation of five-year varsity goalie Hayley Hunt (now at Stony Brook University), current senior Jamie Kubach was next in line to take over in the cage. Kubach, who will join the program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, could not play last weekend, so into the net went sophomore Kayla Joyce.

At the other end of the pitch, University of Michigan signee Kaylee Dyer led the PC attack with seven goals and two assists. She is one of three seniors who had already committed by last season, the others being Ava Coyle (Louisville) and Norwood Fontbonne Academy graduate Mia Ferraro (University of Southern California).

Another Norwood alumna playing a key role for the Quakers is junior Charlotte Hodgson. She's made a verbal commitment to Harvard University, and senior Grace Turner will also be playing for the Crimson after taking a gap year. The sixth senior on the Quakers' roster, Lilly D'Avrigian, has signed with Wake Forest University as a field hockey player.

A dominant junior midfielder, Darcy Felter, has made a verbal commitment to play for the University of North Carolina. She rang up three goals, five assists, and nine draw controls in Saturday's scrimmage.

One goal, four assists, and three ground balls were added to the Penn Charter stats by junior Maddie Shoup, whose sophomore sister, Gracie, is also on the roster. The elder Shoup verbally committed to the University of Colorado, where PC head coach Colleen (Magarity) Kelly was an assistant coach for three seasons. Both Gracie Shoup and Hodgson had a hat trick in Saturday's scrimmage.

An NCAA champion as a player at Northwestern University, Coach Kelly is also the Director of Girls' Lacrosse for the Big 4 Triple H club organization, so she provides the Quakers' program with impressive experience in many facets of player development. She's in her sixth season as head coach at Penn Charter, where she is also Associate Director of Athletics.

In addition to the many players already committed, Kelly noted that juniors Grace Turner, Ella Curci, and Brenna McCafferty are in the process of choosing a college program to continue playing lacrosse.

Like Felter and Grace Turner, current junior Lane Murray played up on the Penn Charter varsity as an eighth-grader. Lacrosse is not her primary sport, though; she's looking to swim in college.

The other 11th-graders on this deep PC team are Lauren Anderson, Kayla Bradby, and Lauren Martz. Making a mark on the stat sheet in the Harriton scrimmage were freshman Grace Walter, with three goals, and sophomores Beatriz Buckley and Alex Glomb, with one each.