By Molly Tow
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 7/31/11
Mount Saint Joseph Academy rising senior attack Burke Brabson has made a verbal commitment to play Division I lacrosse at La Salle University.
In 2011 Brabson helped Mount St. Joseph place third in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies with a league record of 9-3, and an overall record of 11-8. She also played on Philly 4 in the US Lacrosse National tournament.
Brabson, who plays club lacrosse for Ultimate Goal, is considering majoring in Communications.
“I’ve always wanted to play college lacrosse, and my club team has always been really close, and going to clinics and other stuff at La Salle, I realized that it’s kind of the same thing there,” said Brabson. “All of the girls are best friends, it’s like a family, and I would love to continue that in college.”
Brabson said a factor was the La Salle coaching staff, led by head coach Candace Taglianetti.
“Coach [Candace] Taglianetti is actually awesome,” said Brabson. “She’s another reason that I’m going to La Salle.”
Brabson will join West Chester East defender Taylor Clark as the second rising senior to commit to La Salle this year. The two girls have already met, as they played on the national tournament team together.
Mount St. Joseph reached the semifinals of the AACA tournament and also advanced to the District 1 tournament.
“We had a really big building year, because we got a new coach, Jenna Washabaugh, and we beat Villa [Maria], which was definite the highlight of the whole season,” said Brabson. “We hadn’t beaten them for seven years and we beat them in overtime. It was so exciting.
“But we definitely have a lot of talent. It was good just to see a lot of our talent come out. We have a really young team. The sophomores all stepped it up; it was awesome.”
This year the Mount will transition to another new coach Jen Duckenfield after first-year mentor Jenna Washabaugh resigned to attend graduate school. Duckenfield guided Strath Haven to a share of the Central League title in 2010 and also is a coach at Ultimate Goal.
“We’re all really excited to have her and I think that she’s going to be another push in the right direction,” said Brabson. “Our main goal next year is probably to win the league.”
Brabson wished to thank her club coaches at Ultimate for helping her through the entire recruitment process.
