Women’s recruit: Unionville’s Smith happy to commit to NCAA power Pennsylvania after successful 2009 season

Editor’s note: This is one of many recruit stories Phillylacrosse.com is re-posting as it restores content as a result of its redesign this spring

By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 8/7/09
Re-Posted 6/30/10

Unionville rising senior midfielder Lindsey Smith has committed to play Division I lacrosse at Pennsylvania.

Smith enjoyed a banner year in 2009, helping the Indians go undefeated in the Ches-Mont League while reaching the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association semifinals. She had 81 goals and 39 assists and earned US Lacrosse All-American and Academic All-American honors as well as First-Team All-Philylacrosse.com and All-Ches-Mont.

Smith plans to major in accounting at Penn, where she will join fellow Philly rising senior Allie Martin (Radnor).

“I really like the layout of the campus and the coaches were so nice,” Smith said. “It’s a really high level and I am looking for a challenge that pushes me to reach my full potential.”

At Penn, she will play for a Quakers team that has reached the NCAA Final Four the past three years under highly-regarded coach Karin Brower. In each of the three years Penn has fallen to eventual champion Northwestern; last year Penn fell to the Wildcats in overtime in the semifinals.

“Definitely, when I met with her, I could just tell she is ready to go,” Smith said. “She knows what she’s talking about.

“I really got a chance to follow them last year. They came really close to beating Northwestern.”

Smith is one of three Unionville rising seniors to make an early commitment; the others, goalie Melisssa Lloyd and midfielder Lizzy Carney, chose Penn State. That group will head a large number of returnees for the Indians, who were a small surprise last year after graduating a number of seniors.

“We had great team chemistry,” said Smith, a Competitive Edge Underclass Honor Roll pick this year by Phillylacrosse.com. “It was all about getting the ball downfield through passing, and working the ball around to goal.

“It was never about isolating people; it was just working as a team. I loved that and it worked really well for us. I think we exceeded expectations and now we know what we are capable of doing. We had a lot we had to prove to ourselves and I’m so excited about next year.”