St. Anthony's girls lacrosse embraces top ranking in country
After a perfect season, fifth straight state championship and a No. 1 ranking in the entire country, the pressure is on for St. Anthony's to continue the tradition. To which this year's girls lacrosse team says: Bring it on!
The Friars finished last season 19-0 and CHSAA champs. USA Lacrosse and Inside Lacrosse have them ranked as the top team in the country entering the 2025 season. All of it brings pure motivation for coach Darcy Messina's team.
“We’re super grateful for last season,” said Messina, a former St. Anthony's player who starred at Florida in college and took over the program last year. “Pressure certainly is a privilege, and looking ahead now, we’re just focused on the task at hand.”
Senior Julia May O'Connor said, "It feels great being there, but we don’t feel any pressure going onto the field. We all trust in each other, and we’re just motivated to accomplish big things this season.”
Having played Division I lacrosse, Messina’s mission was to cultivate an environment at St. Anthony’s that was similar to what she experienced at Florida: One focused on discipline and competitiveness.
“My experience at UF and playing at the Division I level has certainly influenced how I approach coaching and team culture,” Messina said. “The girls really bought into the culture we were putting in, the themes that we had of respect, working hard and operating at a competitive and elite level, and that certainly showed.”
St. Anthony's roster looks a lot different this season after graduating 20 seniors, including leading scorer Tess Calabria. But Messina said she’s excited for this new group to step up and write a story of their own.
“The senior '25 class had the opportunity to be juniors under a very talented senior class last year,” Messina said. “They’ve absorbed a lot and learned a lot from them. This is a new year, a new team, with new experiences waiting to unfold, and I’m very excited to see what this group is going to do moving forward.”
The talent on this team runs deep throughout the 38-girl roster. Nearly 30 of them are committed to playing Division I lacrosse at schools such as the University of Florida, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Syracuse and Northwestern, just to name a few.
“Every practice is extremely competitive, and we’re always pushing one another,” said Molly Hiney, a senior and Johns Hopkins commit. “It’s a great atmosphere playing against great players every single day.”
“Our program has built a reputation for excellence,” Messina said. “This year is no exception.”
Another challenging schedule lies ahead for the Friars. They will face other nationally-ranked teams, such as New Canaan (Conn), Darien (Conn) and Victor (NY).
“We understand that our opponents are going to give us their best game, and we’re certainly going to give them our best game as well,” Messina said. “We’re ready to embrace the challenges ahead with confidence and determination.”
O’Connor says it’s the team’s love for the game and the chemistry they’ve built on and off the field that will bring another successful year.
“It’s like a sisterhood here, we really do love playing with each other,” O’Connor said. “We love just being around each other, and that really helps on the field. We’re ready to go, and we’ve been ready since last season ended.”