Panthers’ Langdon grew into new role
By: Justin Feil
Keely Langdon stands out on the lacrosse field, and not just because she is 5-foot-10.
In four years starting for Princeton Day School, Langdon made her presence felt from end to end. For four years, she started at center, right in the middle of all the action. Much of the Panther girls’ play went through Langdon in her first three years, yet her role grew as a senior.
"It was bigger because she had to do all the little things," said PDS head coach Jill Thomas. "We asked her to play up and down the field, be in our zone, be in our press, be in our man-up, do it all. Everybody else knew what type of player she is. She was going to be doubled, tripled, whatever it took. She’s certainly a force out there."
Langdon’s role grew even more when the Panthers lost leading returning scorer Katie Briody just five games into the season. Briody and Langdon were team captains together, but Briody had to do her leading on the sidelines the remainder of the spring.
"On the offensive and defensive sides, people had to step up," Langdon said. "She was still involved. She was giving directions. She was like a third coach. She was still a vital part of our team as a season.
"I felt a little more pressure. You don’t have an extra person you can always fall back on and rely on. For so many of our games last year, you knew if you gave her the ball, she could make things happen. It shook up our confidence, but everything turned out all right."
Langdon helped ensure the success didn’t slow even without Briody. If possible, she tried harder at both ends to control play for the Panthers, who opened the season with 15 straight wins. Those wins put them in position to make the finals of both the Prep A and the Mercer County Tournaments. Though they fell in those contests, PDS won the Patriot Conference and Bedesem Division championships. Nominated for All-America, Langdon was second on the team in goals scored with 46, and led the Panthers with 25 assists as they finished 17-2.
Keely Langdon is the Princeton Packet Girls’ Lacrosse Player of the Year.
"She’s in great shape," Thomas said. "She is driven. She drives to be in the best shape possible. She works. She works on her game all the time. She loves this game. We in the business say, ‘Wow, she’s a player.’
"I think what she’s been able to do this year, after five games in, her role changed and she had to be that much more inspirational to get the younger players to believe. She did that. She was great. All the little things that made all the big things for us possible were because of that. We had to ask her to do everything. Play both ends of the field, take the draw, possess the draw, everything."
Langdon didn’t always consider herself a lacrosse player. First, she was a soccer and basketball player. She was on the B lacrosse team as a seventh grader at PDS. She played on the A team as an eighth grader, but it was always soccer that seemed to be her calling.
"I did a little middle school lacrosse," said Langdon, a Princeton resident. "I really started freshman year. I wasn’t really into it freshman year.
"I was always a big soccer player. I didn’t think about playing lacrosse until junior year when I got hurt. I really didn’t have a junior year of soccer season. I always played travel soccer since 8. I never played competitive outside lacrosse. I didn’t do my first travel lacrosse team until the summer before my senior season."
All because her soccer calling had a collision, or two. Langdon suffered a concussion playing soccer for PDS as a junior, then suffered another one a week later in her return. It was the start to changing her focus.
"If it didn’t happen, I don’t think I would have really focused on lacrosse and become the player I have," Langdon said. "I joke with my mom all the time. It’s a gift I became a lacrosse player. From such a bad experience came my lacrosse career. It’s awesome. It would have been easier if I came to it a little earlier, but it all worked out."
With her mind made up, she pursued her new first love with the same vigor she pursues ground balls. Her athleticism she played middle school tennis in addition to basketball and lacrosse brought together her game.
"I did some camps, like Princeton University’s camp, and I started getting good fast," she said. "I started really doing some camps last summer. I did all the tournaments. Everything kind of came together. I became a lacrosse player. It turned out to be the sport I had the most fun at. Soccer, I almost got worn out with. A new sport is exciting. You see growth so much faster."
Langdon continues to grow as a player as she devotes more and more time to it. Her stick skills improved every year, and combined with her speed and strength, make her the sort of player who can dominate at either end of the field.
"Now she is on the tip of the iceberg," Thomas said. "When you look on the field, she stands out. She’s a lacrosse player. You see No. 12. She’s a player. She’s going to go on and do some pretty great stuff at the next level."
Langdon will continue her career for the University of Pennsylvania women’s team, which reached the NCAA final four this spring. She has been tabbed for a defensive role, and she is looking forward to the next challenges on the lacrosse field.
"I’m playing next year," she said. "I’m a little scared about that. I’m excited too. It’s the next level. I think I’m going to play a midfield defensive player. I’ll have to learn how to do that. There are people who played defense their whole high school career."
In Langdon, Penn sees the potential, and a player who has grown every year. This year, her responsibility was as great as ever, and she kept the Panthers moving forward even after the loss of Briody. It made for one of her most rewarding moments in the game.
"This was the best team I’ve ever played with in all four years of PDS," Langdon said. "It had a lot of talent and a lot of team chemistry. The team dynamic was good for this year. That was represented in our scores and record for the season."
The Panthers have increased their win total in each of the past four years. It will be hard to go up from 17 wins, and even harder without Langdon in the center of it all.
"I always played center, but I felt like there wasn’t as big a responsibility (before this year)," Langdon said. "People didn’t expect as much from me as a freshman and sophomore. I kind of proved myself. Junior and senior year, our class ended up taking over the program. Every year as our class got older, we had a bigger winning percentage. Definitely our class took on a responsibility to turn around PDS lacrosse. It was cool for that."
Added Thomas: "That’s what it’s all about getting it done. I think that’s one of the best things about high school sports. We’re not all given 12 terrific players. But you’re given the opportunity to win. If you’re given a few good players, great things can happen. They make everyone else better."
As a senior, Keely Langdon stood out in helping raise the level of the PDS girls’ lacrosse team once again. Being 5-10 just made it that much easier to find her.

