Inter-Ac Notebook (4/29)
Photos/Videos: Zamani Feelings, Lennie Malmgren, Marc Narducci & Ryan Nix
By: Marc Narducci
On Land and In Water, This GA Senior Excels
Germantown Academy attack Lucia Smigiel had an interesting way to prepare for her senior lacrosse season – she played water polo for the first time in the fall.
“Best decision in my life,” said Smigiel, a UConn lacrosse commit. “It was so much fun.”
And yet it was so hard because water polo contains its share of physicality.
Germantown Academy senior Lucia Smigiel #21 - PSD Photo by Ryan Nix
“You are being drowned for an hour and a half straight and you are drowning everybody else,” she said laughing. “You can’t breathe half the time.”
Smigiel used to compete in field hockey and basketball but decided water polo would be the sport she would play to eventually train for lacrosse.
“I never played before, but I was a competitive swimmer for a while,” she said. “I was pretty natural in the water.”
She’s also pretty natural on the lacrosse field, a true go-to scorer.
Germantown Academy has two Inter-Ac wins, both over a strong Notre Dame Academy team and Smigiel had five goals in each of the victories, 11-7 at home and 13-11 last week at Notre Dame.
“This year she has stepped up and is really confident and a leader on the field,” GA coach Diana Shumar said. “She kind of carries our offense right now with the positive vibes and being a leader on the field.”
Smigiel did more than just play water polo to train for lacrosse. Besides being a club lacrosse player, she also trained in the summer with her sister Elise Smigiel, a former standout at Germantown Academy, who is now a junior on the Penn State team.
Lucia Smigiel feels so fortunate to be attending UConn, a school she has had her eye on for quite some time.
“Ever since I started my recruiting it has been my dream school and it had also been the best school I had been reaching out to,” she said. “I knew I wanted to major in civil engineering, and I knew they had a solid program for that.”
What drew her to civil engineering?
Lucia Smigiel of GA talks about her commitment to UConn - PSD Video by Marc Narducci
“I have no idea, but I always love tinkering,” she said. “I have all these marble runs and solar powered rovers that I make.”
She has also had a lot of success in math and science, which also will help her with her college major.
Smigiel said that Germantown Academy has prepared her well academically, the same way the Inter-Ac has lacrosse-wise.
“It’s super competitive, I think the Inter-Ac is the best in the country,” she said. “The competition is crazy.”
And she has stood up well in this competition to become a prolific player. Smigiel does a little bit of everything for her team, including at times taking draws. She is an indefatigable player, rarely looking tired.
Maybe it was the water polo training that helped her take it to another level during an impressive senior season.
More on GA
In that recent 13-11 win over Notre Dame, Smigiel also had six draw controls and one assist, in addition to the five goals. Senior Cate Luviano (Brown) added four goals, one assist, three draw controls and three ground balls. Classmate Maggie Borek (Navy) added two goals and four assists. Also scoring goals were senior Gigi Ippoldo (William & Mary) and Hadley Harbert. Goalie Sadie Hess made nine saves.
In a 12-9 loss to Manheim Township to close the week, Borek and Smigiel each had four goals with Harbert scoring the other, while Hess made 10 saves.
Agnes Irwin continues strong play
Coming off an 11-10 triple OT win over Episcopal Academy, Agnes Irwin kept the momentum going in non-league play with a 13-5 win over Lawrenceville.
As usual, it was a balanced attack by the winning Owls. Junior Caroline Chisholm (Boston College) had three goals and three draw controls. Classmate Blair Fox (Virginia) had two goals and five draw controls. Junior Ella Springer (Johns Hopkins) had two goals and a draw control. Senior Elle Brady (Villanova) scored two goals. Classmate Molly Chorin (Harvard) had a goal and two assists. Also scoring single goals were junior Catie Holmes (Maryland) and Ella Garner.
Agnes Irwin junior Caroline Chisholm #45 - PSD Photo by Zamani Feelings
Junior Emma Tayloe (Navy) contributed three caused turnovers, one ground ball and one draw control. Senior goalie Maggie Mullin (Richmond) had six saves.
Agnes Irwin followed that win with a 14-8 victory over Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. Junior Mairyn Dwyer (North Carolina) led the way with four goals and two draw controls. Springer and Chisholm added two goals each. Fox enjoyed a strong all-around game with a goal, five ground balls and an impressive 11 draw controls.
The week ended with an 11-5 win over Sacred Heart (CT). Chisholm had three goals and three draw controls, while Springer also added a hat trick. Fox had a goal, one ground ball and six draw controls while Mullin made five saves.
EA bounces back
After that aforementioned triple OT loss to Agnes Irwin, three-time defending Inter-Ac champion Episcopal Academy came out on fire in its next game, defeating Penn Charter, 12-5. It shows how intense the competition is in the Inter-Ac. Penn Charter earlier beat Agnes Irwin, 10-6. Yet the Quakers are 0-2 vs Episcopal Academy, losing the first meeting 12-6.
Before Tuesday’s second meeting with EA, Penn Charter coach Colleen Magarity Kelly texted EA coach Josie Tomaino with one simple question.
“I asked her if we were the lucky ones to play you after your first loss,” Magarity Kelly recalled.
When told that would be the case, the Penn Charter coach knew she would be facing an Episcopal Academy team with a major chip on its shoulder.
“I knew they were going to come out ready and they are a phenomenal team,” Magarity Kelly said. “We have to play our best game ever and they have to be a little down.”
Neither happened.
EA got a big game in goal from junior Grace Holland (Boston College), who made six saves and had three ground balls.
“I think our team as a whole realized that because we lost, we had a lot more to look at,” Holland said. “And we made the choice to really dive into that game and just look at what we did wrong.”
Episcopal Academy vs. Penn Charter - PSD Highlights by Marc Narducci
EA's Sydney Richter talks about bouncing back from an 11-10 triple OT loss to Agnes Irwin to defeat Penn Charter 12-5 - PSD Video by Marc Narducci
Episcopal Academy senior Sydney Richter (Georgetown) said the loss was a true wakeup call.
“That game was a real bummer for us,” said Richter, who had two goals, four draw controls and a ground ball against Penn Charter. “We talked as a team that you have two choices to make when you lose a game like that, where you can let it break you, or you can move forward with it and take some things away.”
Episcopal Academy chose the second option.
“We found some things we had to work on and used that then to move forward and clean those things up in preparation for this game,” Richter said.
Junior Maura Irish (Notre Dame) had four goals, three draw controls and four caused turnovers. Classmate Quinn Whitaker (Boston College) added three goals, six draw controls, one ground ball and one caused turnover. Senior defender Jenna Morley (Colorado) had three ground balls and one caused turnover while junior Kate Dente (Princeton) contributed a goal and four assists.
For Penn Charter, sophomore Harbor Campbell scored a hat trick and had an assist. Senior Grace Walter (William & Mary) had a goal and an assist, while Ana Buckley scored the other goal.
Episcopal Academy vs. Penn Charter - PSD Gallery by Ryan Nix
Senior Aditi Foster (Northwestern) had an assist and four draw controls. Sophomore goalie Maeve Magarity had eight saves, two ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Penn Charter would rebound with a 19-9 win over Notre Dame Academy. Foster and Walter each scored five goals. Sophomore Molly Dougherty added four goals. Magarity made nine saves and had one ground ball and one caused turnover. Eighth grader Makenna Myers contributed four draw controls and a ground ball.
Davis stars for Notre Dame Academy
Even though Academy of Notre Dame lost a 13-11 decision to Germantown Academy, freshman Riley Davis had a huge game with six goals, four draw controls and one caused turnover.
Sophomore Keira McHugh scored a hat trick and had three draw controls. Sophomore goalie Morgan Kelly made eight saves.
In a 9-8 non-league win over Marple Newtown, McHugh had five goals, three draw controls and two caused turnovers while Davis scored a hat trick and had seven draw controls.
Freshman Abby Simms contributed one goal, three assists, one draw control and one caused turnover.
Academy of Notre Dame freshman Riley Davis #33 - PSD Photo by Lennie Malmgren
SCHA update
In the above mentioned 14-8 loss to Agnes Irwin, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy senior Alex Reilly (Virginia) had four goals and two draw controls. Classmate Madison Freeman added two goals, two draw controls and two caused turnovers. The other goal scorers were senior Cortney Neverosky (Naval Academy) and classmate Sarah Scollin (Gettysburg). Taylor Foley contributed three ground balls.
Reilly added four goals, one assist, four draw controls and two ground balls in an 11-10 loss to IMG. Freeman contributed a hat trick, while Molly McCann made 12 saves.