Search Icon
Menu

Pansini Memorial Girls’ Scholar-Athlete of the Week: Cardinal O’Hara 2025 goalie Mersch

by

By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/2/24

Cardinal O’Hara 2025 goalie Marina Mersch has been named the Michael Pansini Memorial Girls’ Scholar-Athlete of the Week.

The award recognizes senior and junior lacrosse players who excel in academics, service, and athletics.

Cardinal O’Hara’s Marina Mersch (Photo courtesy of Zack Beavers @beaverspics)

Marina Mersch Profile:

)

High School: Cardinal O’Hara
Grad Year: 2025
Position: Goalie
College Commitment: University of Delaware
Club Team: DELCO Elite

Honors

Service: Helped raise $37,000 in 2022 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Student of the Year campaign, participates each year in the O’Hara DHDM dance marathon (similar to THON), volunteers for Operation Santa Claus, and volunteered picking meals for Kids Against Hunger in Drexel Hill.

Academic Honors:  GPA is a weighted cumulative 4.9, Honor Roll, and Honors and AP classes.

Athletic Achievements: Mersch had 27 saves and only 10 goals against in O’Har’s first two games, wins over Litttle Flower, 15-10, and Lansdale Catholic (13-10, 19 saves). Club: 2X IWCLA Champions Cup MVP (2023), IWCLA Presidents Cup MVP (2022), Apex 60 (2023)

Honoree Questions:

How do you define leadership?
“I define leadership as the role of inspiring and guiding a group of people to achieve success. Leadership is communicating and motivating your teammates to keep working hard even in difficult times. A leader takes accountability and inspires others to never give up.”
How do you balance academics, service, and athletics?
“Time management is essential in balancing my academics, service, and athletics. I use my free time throughout the day to focus on my academics. Knowing my athletic schedule ahead of time allows me to plan when to do my work and when I can participate in my service activities.”
What are your future goals (college and/or professional)?
“My goal is for my team to win the PCL championship this year. My goals for the future also include making a positive impact and continuing to improve my skills when I play lacrosse at the University of Delaware.”
Coach Jen Armstrong’s comment: “Marina is the type of player that makes everyone around her want to work hard and raise the level of their game.  She loves the game of lacrosse and her enthusiasm for the game lifts up every player on the team. Marina is a leader in the classroom with honors and AP classes. She volunteers for Operation Santa Claus and Kids Against Hunger in addition to raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and DHDM (O’Hara’s version of THON). She is one of 6 children and has an identical twin Chiara who is a defender on the O’Hara lacrosse team.”

High school coaches from the 5-county area, Delaware, South Jersey, Berks and the Lehigh Valley may nominate a player (junior or senior) for the Pansini Law Group Scholar-Athlete of the Week by e-mailing us at golax@phillylacrosse.com. Nominations are closed for 2023, but will be accepted again beginning in February of 2024. Each honoree receives a scholarship cash award from Pansini Law Group.