Archbishop Carroll girls continue their Catholic League dynasty
By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/6/09
The dynasty continues at Archbishop Carroll.
Since losing to St. Hubert in the 2000 Catholic League championship game, the Carroll girls have won over 100 straight league games and eight consecutive Catholic League titles.
Last year the Patriots (16-4) routed Archbishop Wood, 17-4, for that eighth straight crown. Earlier in the year, the Pats dominated Little Flower, 17-4, to claim their 100th league game in a row.
One of the team captains, senior Annie Brophy said the winning tradition at Archbishop Carroll simply gets passed down from each senior class to the rest of the team.
“Every year we always have a strong senior class and since our freshman year we’ve watched the seniors every year lead the team to a championship,” Brophy said.
“When we get out there, it’s just like the whole intensity rises, and we’re all ready to play. It’s a really good feeling; we’re expected to play well, and we know we can.”
The popular and respected Carroll coach, Lorraine Beers has managed to build the powerhouse despite the lack of a real feeder program. At times, she has recruited athletes and made them into top-notch lacrosse players; often younger sisters have followed their sisters’ footsteps.
For Brophy, the championship win was the final chapter for the Brophy family at Carroll. Her sister Tricia was a member of Beers’ first team in 2000 that fell to St. Hubert in the championship game. Sister Jess, a standout who graduated three years ago, is a senior at James Madison and will get to play with Annie this year.
Another Brophy, Mary Beth, was a Carroll captain in 2007 and is a sophomore at Georgetown.
“It’s a pushing factor,” Annie Brophy said of the program’s tradition. “No one wants to be the group that messes it up. It’s a good motivator. And coach Beers has definitely built this program.
“You watch the seniors do it every year and you learn from the older players. That part of it pushes you harder. You need to win every game. We played Wood earlier in the season and they have a couple of really good seniors and they did pretty well against us.
“We knew they could give us a good game, but our defense was amazing.”
Clearly, Beers has talent at Carroll. Last year she had six Division I recruits, including Brophy, Gabby Capuzzi, Laura Beck, Megan Corliss, Olivia Salata and Melissa DiTomo. This year there are seven more: Alexandra Burns, Carolyn Burns, Marlee Hagan, Kaitlin Harris, Maggie Mauer, Amanda Salata, and Ryan Yankowich.
But what Carroll has most is good coaching and togetherness.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Brophy,. “We had a huge motivation with the ‘Eight in 08.’ That motivated us to keep winning and working hard every day.”
Note: Phillylacrosse.com will recap the Top 20 Stories of 2008 throughout the month of January.
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