By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Delia Lawver has been enjoying her senior season with the Hun School girls lacrosse team so much, she doesn’t want to see it come to an end.
“It’s been going very well,” said Lawver, a co-captain for the Raiders. “This had been my best season so far at Hun. We’re bonding as a team and working well together, which we have not necessarily done in past years. I am excited to see how that keeps going. We have been playing well and have some wins against some very good teams. We played Kent Place in the prep tournament and they were one of the best teams we have faced and we played well and as a team. I am just hoping we can continue that for a few more games.”
The Raiders are into the home stretch of the season, which includes playing in the state Prep A and Mercer County tournaments. They opened the Prep A tournament with a 13-10 win over Kent Place as Zoe Cook led the way with six goals. Hun will play at Lawrenceville in the tournament semifinals on Monday. The Raiders were scheduled to open play in the MCT on Thursday with a game against West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
“The season has been good for me,” Lawver said. “I have been a little more confident this year. I am planning to play in college, so it is good to have that confidence going into college since next year will be a whole different experience.”
Lawver has been a versatile player for the Raiders this season. She has the ability to score goals, since she is third on the team in goals behind Shannon Dudeck and Zoe Cook. She is also second in assists behind Hannah Bunce. But when needed, Lawver can also be a standout at the defensive end of the field.
“Delia is amazing,” Hun coach Liz Cook said. “She is one of my tri-captains and she is so dependable and responsible. She is more of a quiet leader, but not on the field. Her word for this year bold. She has vision and focus and an aggressiveness to her. Last year her word was determination. She has this laser focus of being proud of the team.
“She is a great person who I can depend on to lead team and pick people up if things are not going well. She is such a great kid. She is a goal scorer and I can also use her on the defensive end. She has also played midfield and now I have her on lower attack.”
Lawver, who plays an attacking position on her club team, enjoys being a versatile player that Cook and the Raiders can count on to perform wherever she is needed.
“We have three regular season games and the tournaments left, which is crazy,” Lawver said. ”It makes me play with more heart because this is last few games with this group of girls and with this coach on this field. I want to make it keep going. Hopefully we can go out on winning streak.”
Lawver and current teammate Kate Davis will be heading to Hobart and Williams Smith, where they plan to play lacrosse. Before then there is the end of the high school season to focus on.
“We are feeling confident,” Cook said. “We practice hard and the kids love to come out and want to work hard. I think we are peaking at the right time. We had a great win against Kent Place. We haven’t beaten then in a while. They are always so solid. We felt good about that win. It’s always a challenge to play Lawrenceville but we are looking forward to it. They are so strong. We’ll see if we can make some adjustments. It is tournament time and we use the analogy of playoff hockey. Your game has to go up a little if you want to stick together you have to keep winning. Our girls understand it has to be all in.”