Christ Church Lady’s Lacrosse young but talented
By Neill Kirkpatrick
Special to the HSSR
Greenville – The Christ Church Episcopal Lady Cavalier’s lacrosse team has had their season end in the state AAAA semi finals the last two years and they lost 60% of their offensive production so expectations might be tempered heading into the 2025 season, however,
head coach Molly Miller has built a program that reloads with the same expectations every year.
The Lady Cav’s finished with 12-6/ 4-1 record last season.
“While competing for a state championship is always a priority, we try not to look too far down the road so we focus on each game in front of us and what we need to do to get better,” said coach Miller. “Our expectations are always to be better as team each time we step off the field and if we do that everything else will take care of itself.”
Coach continued, “We have 17 girls who are great teammates, competitive, hardworking, willing to learn, and committed to improving. You can't ask for much more as a coach. I am excited to see how they come together as team and how far we can go.”
The Lady Cav’s have gotten off to a good start to the season at 4-0/1-0 having beaten three AAAAA schools in the process. They are scoring 13 goals a game but the key to the start has been their defense. They have held the opponent to 9 goals or less three times. They host 5-2 AAAAA Spartanburg before they play three consecutive region contest with two being on the road at Oceanside Collegiate and Academic Magnet before they host AAAAA TL Hanna.
Seniors Foster Miller and Kathryn Toomey are the team leaders and two of the teams three captains. Miller is a returning second team All State attacker, first team all upper state and All region. She is the teams leading returning offensive threat. Last season she was second goals with 46, second in assists with 22 and second in total points with 68. She is a gifted offensive player when looking to score or trying to find a teammate.
Toomey is the teams stopper on defense. She is a returning second team all upper state and an all-region selection. She was second last season in ground balls.
Junior Sydney Shaw is returning all-region attacker while fellow junior Amelia Koch was all region on defense. Shaw is the team’s third captain and last season she scored a total of 13 points. She also plays on the basketball team.
The rest of the starting line up is made up of underclassmen. Two juniors Lexie Sobocinski and Catherine Easterling are new to the team but have fit in really well with their teammates. Easterling is a starter while Sobocinski adds depth off the bench and is sometime starter.
Sophomore starters are Kate Marguet at attacker, Julia Davis at defense, Pearson Glenn at midfield, Mae Hatfield at attacker, JJ Nessmith at midfield, and Maggie Chernez at goal keeper. Hatfield and Nessmith each scored 10 goals last season and finished the year with 12 points each. Each was on the team last year but they’ve adjusted their positions and/or roles for the 2025 season.
Chernez is one of the top keepers in the state. As a freshman she had 65 saves and allowed only 8 goals a game. She has been better this season allowing less than 7 goals per contest.
Also new to the team and the starting lineup are freshmen Ella Brashier and Adelaide de Brux they have shown a lot of positives in our first few games. They add depth and athleticism to the team.
The rest of the Lady Cav’s lineup are sophomores Saddler Fox and Sullivan Cunningham and freshman Alexis Stathakis. Fox is a three sports athlete, also playing basketball and soccer. This past season she averaged six points and four rebounds on the hardwood while Cunningham and Stathakis are two sport athletes.
“Experience is something we will gain as the season goes along. We need to continue to build confidence in our young players and that is where senior leadership comes into play,” said coach Miller.
