Senior leadership was the difference for the Carmel High School girls lacrosse team in its drive to the state championship.
Carmel topped Hamilton Southeastern 13-8 June 5 in the Indiana Girls Lacrosse Association Class 2A championship game at Warren Central.
“Our big guns were seniors,” CHS coach Josh Miller said. “There were a lot of contributions from underclassmen, but it was a senior-led team from defense to offense.”
Senior Julia Cherubini scored five goals and senior Hannah Kim contributed four goals and four assists for Carmel (16-2) in the championship. It was the third consecutive state championship for the Greyhounds, who won in 2018 and 2019. The 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carmel had 13 seniors, including eight senior starters, in the championship game.
Midfielders Kim and senior Maddie McGarty were named All-Americans by USA Lacrosse.
“It was a very disappointing end to last year, but what a way to cap a pretty wild academic year,” Miller said. “This group of seniors worked so hard. Of those eight starters, several of them have been on varsity all four years. Four or five of them played in our 2018 state championship. It was special for them to cap off that work.”
McGarty had a team-high 71 goals with 19 assists. Kim finished with 62 goals and 24 assists.
Miller was named the IGLA Coach of the Year.
“We’re optimistic about the future,” Miller said. “We have two JV teams, and we have a lot of talent within those teams. We started a couple of sophomores and started a few juniors. We like what the future holds for sure. It’s tough to replace seniors, though.”
In the Indiana High School Lacrosse Association boys state championship, Hamilton Southeastern flipped the script by beating Carmel 10-6 June 5 at HSE. The CHS boys team finished 15-4 on the season.
“It’s so bittersweet this season,” said Jack Meachum, CHS boys lacrosse head coach. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for our 2021 seniors. They are guys that worked hard every single day, putting what was best for the team first. We also had a lot of young players who were playing a lot of meaningful minutes. In the championship game we had three seniors with significant minutes and a lot of juniors, sophomores and freshmen playing. It was exciting to watch a lot of those players grow through the year, as for many of them it was their first varsity lacrosse season.”
Senior Meade Hicks won the Bob Scott Award for character, service to the community and leadership from USA Lacrosse. Senior Jack Huntington was selected as an All-American. He was named to the all-state team every year during his high school career.
