Homegrown Lewis-Lamonica filling seats for PU women’s lacrosse
By: Justin Feil
Katie Lewis-Lamonica has seen plenty of Princeton University women’s lacrosse games from the shiny aluminum bleachers at Class of 1952 Stadium.
These days, she’s the object of those bleacher creatures as one of the Tiger players.
"In some ways, it’s kind of shocking," said the Lawrenceville Prep graduate who is a freshman at Princeton University. "I’ve been coming to Princeton games and been watching the Princeton team play for like five years. It’s like a totally different realm. It was like an untouchable level of competition. All through middle school and when I started playing in high school, I always wanted to play at Princeton. To be in the system, and see all the imperfections of the system and then see how amazing it is to be out on the field with a Princeton uniform on and the amazing players we’re composed of, it’s kind of surreal. If I hadn’t been local, never would have had that idealized image of the team."
Lewis-Lamonica has transitioned quickly from ultra-fan to ultimate teammate with the Tigers. She’s started all 10 games, and had one of her best all-around games in Princeton’s 11-5 win at Yale on Saturday. Her lone goal of the game gave Princeton a 3-2 lead on its way to a 7-4 halftime advantage, and she assisted on two second-half goals as the Tigers outscored Yale, 4-1, in the final 30 minutes. She was also credited with a draw control and a caused turnover. Lewis-Lamonica has proved a versatile player.
"For a while, I started out playing attack," she said. "Then I started playing defense at Penn State and UVA. We’re still trying to figure out our roles. That’s what determines a team’s identity. I don’t know what my role is. It seems to kind of shift every day. Against Yale, I was able to come up with a lot of turnovers. Against Georgetown, I had a hat trick. Other games, I’ve focused a lot on defense."
Lewis-Lamonica is happy regardless of where she’s playing for the Tigers. She is fifth on the team in scoring with nine goals and four assists and among team leaders in draw controls, caused turnovers and ground balls. She also may lead the team in fans drawn. After a game at Penn on Wednesday, Princeton returns to Class of 1952 Stadium to host Harvard on Saturday.
"In some of the ways, I was concerned being so close to home," said Lewis-Lamonica, a Lawrenceville resident. "But playing lacrosse here, I’m sure they could make it anyway, but my parents can make it to all my games. My friends and my high school team comes. At our last home game, two of my teachers from middle school came. All our neighbors get a kick out of how I’ve been able to do. It’s really amazing to have that kind of support.
"My high school team, of course they would come. A lot of my teammates from last year, they would have come too. It just kind of makes the whole experience more personal. I have teachers who probably never would have come. I think it’s really neat in a way, to a tiny degree have increased the number of fans. What’s more significant is the personal attraction fans can have."
What they can see is a Lewis-Lamonica who’s finding success in a slightly different role from what she did at Lawrenceville. Last spring, she established herself as the top offensive threat for the Big Red. She lead Lawrenceville to an unbeaten state title and capped her career as a two-time All-America.
"I played midfield most of the time at Lawrenceville," she said. "So I’ve always been attack focused. For Princeton, I’ve played midfield and defense. I think it’s been a good shift for me. As a midfielder, your priority has to be defense. On attack, you have the ball and your teammates control what’s going on. On defense, you have to work on transition and you have to be at your best. To me it’s been really good to play a couple games in the back and realize and feel the importance of defense. That’s one thing that’s shifted.
"At first, when Chris (Sailer, PU head coach) told me she wanted to put me back on defense, I had never really played defense before as my position. It took a lot of mental adjustment. I’ve made the switch back and forth. It’s kind of neat. Last game, I played midfield. It’s really exciting for me, to make that shift and make it well is a challenge. On defense, you have more opportunities to make big plays and be a force behind the whole defense. When I get to run the field and be a part of the attack, that’s also exciting for me. It’s nice to change it up. It keeps me on my toes. I enjoy it."
Beyond that, Lewis-Lamonica is trying to fit in to a team that is still putting all its pieces together. Saturday was the first time that Sailer started sophomore goalkeeper Colleen O’Boyle in net. The Tigers continue to fine-tune as they look to the postseason after improving to 8-2. But first, there’s the matter of winning the Ivy League.
"We’re trying to create a consistency," Lewis-Lamonica said. "We’re trying to practice each day with an intense competitiveness. If we underestimate the Ivy League that could really kind of disturb us. We want to approach every Ivy game with a real focus and determination that will give us momentum going into the tournament. The Ivy League, that’s our league. There’s definitely a lot of pride in winning that."
Though it’s her first season in the program, Lewis-Lamonica has seen plenty of the pride of the program through her years in the area. She hopes to know first-hand now how much an Ivy title and trip to the NCAAs is to the Tigers. It would be one special moment in what’s been quite a debut for the local product.
"It’s definitely been better than I expected," Lewis-Lamonica said. "It’s Princeton lacrosse. There’s such a history of success at Princeton lacrosse. That’s what kind of makes the experience so surreal. There’s this huge gap between the player I saw I was and the Princeton players I saw."
That gap has closed as Katie Lewis-Lamonica has developed into a fast contributor in her first season with the Princeton University women’s lacrosse team.