THE NEW CAPTAINS for next season’s LHS girls’ lacrosse team were announced at the banquet. Pictured are outgoing captains Taylor Valiton and Clara Caulfield along with incoming captains Alex Schmidt, Ereeny Georges and Hayden Valiton. Missing from photo: Ava Damiani. (Courtesy Photo)
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield High girls’ lacrosse team had its awards banquet recently at the middle school. That evening, head coach Christina Serra gave out four main awards.
The Defensive MVP Award went to senior co-captain Clara Caulfield who is going to Clemson this fall.
The Offensive MVP went to sophomore Hayden Valiton.
Valiton made the Cape Ann League First-Team All-Stars for the second year in a row. The attacker, who also sometimes played midfielder, led the team in goals with 86 and she also had 22 assists, which was fourth on the team. She was second on the team in draw controls with 83.
The Coaches Award went to senior attacker Taylor Vailton who made the CAL First-Team All-Stars for the third year in a row this spring. She had 66 goals and 24 assists for 90 points this spring. The UConn bound senior was second on the team in goals and third in assists.
She was also first on the team in draw controls with 130.
The LAA Scholar Athlete Award also went to Taylor Valiton as she went home with two awards.
Along with Caulfield and Taylor Vailton, the team will be losing three other seniors, Chloe Gromko (attacker), Lily White (attacker) and Kayla Santo (defenseman).
Gromko will be going to Indiana University while White is going to the University of Tampa.
Santo will be playing lacrosse next year at Suffolk University.
“This senior class was a very special group,” said Serra, who just finished her fourth-year at the helm. “They were all starters this season and they really improved a lot over the four years and I will miss them.”
This season, the Pioneers reached the MIAA Division 4 Round of 16 before losing at Norwell, 16-5, to end the year at 9-13.
Norwell ended up winning the Div. 4 state title.
Lynnfield went 5-9 in the Cape Ann League as they came in fourth place in the CAL Baker Division.
“This year was the first one we had a harder non-league schedule,” pointed out Serra. “I think that the schedule helped them develop as the season went along. Overall, the team did a great job.”
Next season, the team is slated to return 12 veterans.
“We have a good core coming back, especially with our junior class,” said Serra. “We also have some incoming freshman who could take some of the spots that we lost.”
The players also voted for the captains for next year. Two of them will be seniors next spring while the two others will be juniors. The two senior captains for next year will be Alex Schmidt (utility) and Ereeny Georges (attacker).
Hayden Valiton and Ava Damiani, who played midfield and attacker this year, will be the junior captains next spring.