Ancarrow Ready For DI Lacrosse

John Carroll's Casey Ancarrow (left) will head to James Madison University this fall.  (www.topofthebaysports.com)

By: Aidan Renaghan

The John Carroll High School girls lacrosse program fielded its best team ever this year, becoming the first squad in school history to go undefeated and win the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship, retaining the title it won last year. And nobody epitomizes the work ethic, dedication and humility that brought the team its second consecutive title more than attacker Casey Ancarrow.

Ancarrow, a graduating senior, was one of the Patriots’ unquestioned leaders. Coach Krystin Porcella identified her as an important presence in the team’s championship run, although not the most vocal one.

“She is a ‘talks the least but says the most’ type of player,” Porcella said. “She’s got a great sense of humor too. If there is pressure mounting, you can always count on Casey to come up with something to make everybody laugh and relax.”

But leadership wasn’t the only thing Ancarrow brought to the table. An adept attacker, she recorded 50 goals and 39 assists in the regular season, as well as a goal and four assists in the title game against the McDonogh Eagles.

“She’s just athletic,” Porcella said. “She’s got great hand-eye coordination, great speed. What makes her so successful is just her smarts. She can just read situations on the field, and you can’t teach that stuff.”

Ancarrow’s naturally athletic ability and her strong instincts also led to her success on John Carroll’s field hockey squad. Picking up field hockey to stay in shape for lacrosse, she was a three-year starter for the team, an experience she said she enjoyed immensely.

“I like lacrosse a lot more than field hockey,” she said. “But field hockey is fun, it was less competition, less pressure than lacrosse was, which was nice.”

There has been no shortage of accolades for Ancarrow this season. She was named Athlete of the Week by both the Baltimore Sun and the Los Angeles Times. She was also named to a number of all-star teams including the IAAM All-High School squad, the Baltimore All-Metro team and the Under Armour All-America North team. In the Under Armour game July 12, she added two goals to the North’s 13-12 win over the South.

The Patriots’ championship run was one for the history books. They were the first team in IAAM A Conference history to win two championships in a row. It was a goal the team knew was achievable from the very beginning.

“We had pretty high expectations after winning the championship last year,” Ancarrow said. “And we had a really strong group of seniors and juniors as well [so] we completely expected to win the championship again.”

Still, the enormous task was not an easy accomplishment for the team.

“In the IAAM, the level of competition is so high that just going undefeated in the conference is really hard to do,” Ancarrow said.

Ancarrow was not the only star on the John Carroll team. Fellow seniors Ally Carey and Grace Gaeng were also named to the Under Armour All-America team, and the history-making success of John Carroll has allowed most of the seniors to continue their lacrosse careers at the college level. The school is sending eight players to Division I schools, with Carey heading to Vanderbilt University, Gaeng going to the University of Maryland and Ancarrow heading to James Madison University.

Although Ancarrow has had a successful high school career, it certainly has not gone to her head. She downplays the impact she can have on JMU’s lacrosse program next year.

“I just want to come in as a freshman and do what I can do my first year and take it from there,” she said.

But Porcella has much loftier expectations for her star attacker and her future in Division I lacrosse.

“She’ll walk right in, and I think the girls will respect her on the team because of how good she is and what she can bring,” Porcella said. “You want a player like Casey on your team.”

Posted Aug. 8, 2008