By: Carolyn M. Hartko
One of South Brunswick High School’s youngest sports programs has reached another milestone. The first two four-year girls’ lacrosse players graduate this month. Senior co-captain Tanya Earl earned four varsity letters in lacrosse, and classmate Sarah McCall played three years of varsity, after one year of JV.
"Lacrosse was just fun," McCall said. "When I was a freshman, it was the first year they had the program. So, me and Tanya were the first girls to ever play all four years of lacrosse. We came so far and made the state tournament in just four years, our senior year. And we played a decent game in the state tournament. We lost 17-3, but we did pretty well. We had some great defense, but (West Morris/Mendham) was a really good team."
The Lady Vikings ended up 6-8 this year, about where they finished in 2002. The final two losses were in postseason play. They lost to East Brunswick in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament 12-11, as well as to West Morris in the states. But the record doesn’t reflect the steady increase in the quality of play on the SBHS lax fields.
"We played some really great games," McCall said. "We played a great game against East Brunswick (in the GMCT), losing to them by one point, and we hadn’t been able to keep the margin that close before."
In addition to playing frontline on the lacrosse team, McCall was a four-year varsity gymnast at SBHS. She is headed to the University of Colorado next year and a major in communications. Lacrosse is a club sport out there, and she is thinking of going out for it. Although not an official captain at the beginning of the season, McCall found herself thrust into the position.
"We had four seniors in the beginning," McCall said. "Then two of them quit, and then Tanya injured herself. I was the only remaining senior who could actually play. And I was able to step up and be a leader on the team."
Earl, a four-year varsity soccer player, sprained an ankle playing travel-team soccer in the middle of the spring. She has recently returned to the lineup on her club team, but never got back into action with the Viking lax squad.
"It really stunk, because it was my senior year," Earl said "I’ve been there since the beginning of the program. So, to not be able to finish my senior year with the team and with the coach (Gail DeMarco) that I started with was tough. I wasn’t ready for it to end when it did. I was really down."
Although Earl will pursue soccer at Monmouth University along with a degree in elementary education, she has set the standard for lacrosse attackers at SBHS. She is the school record-holder for both the number of goals scored in a single season, and total career goals. Earl feels that the 2003 Vikings grew in team spirit as well as skills as the spring went on.
"In the beginning, it was a little rough, because we had a lot of new people," Earl said. "But after our first couple of games, we really brought it together as a team, and really became close with each other. We started to depend on each other and trust each other on the field."
One player who has a shot at Earl’s season record is junior frontrunner Kate Marowitz. She had eight goals in the GMCT game at East Brunswick, and managed to sneak two past the West Morris defense in the state game. Junior Krystal Brown, who started the year as a defender, showed a lot of talent for attack in the last two games of the season.
The Vikings should be pretty solid on defense next year, considering that both varsity goalies got a lot of playing time this spring. Chrissie Tupe is a junior, and Kelly Berkuta is a sophomore. Field defenders Keally Gillespie (junior) and sophomore Kashauna Pierre got some help late in the season from freshman newcomer Jackie Helsgott. There will be other varsity players returning, and plenty of talent from the JV and freshman squads trying to crack the varsity lineup.
Although the girls coming up won’t have quite the same pioneering feel to their careers as McCall and Earl, it’s a good bet that they will look back on their high school lacrosse days with similar fondness.
"I’ll always remember how much I improved personally, and how much the program improved," Earl said. "And we’ve had some fun. Since this is lacrosse, and not a lot of teams around here have that sport, we’ve had to travel some far distances. So, just being on the bus rides with people different from soccer, was a lot of fun. I enjoyed playing with these people, and I enjoyed playing lacrosse. We lost a lot of games, but we were able to still keep our heads high. We learned a positive attitude from lacrosse."
