The Anderson Girls’ Lacrosse program’s 5th season has come to a close, with the Trojans making it all the way to the state semifinals once again. It was a very successful year for the Trojans as the team soared to new highs in the regional and national rankings, topping off at #2 in the South and #11 amongst all public schools in America.
The girls started their season 7-0 behind big wins over Southlake, Westlake, and the Woodlands, as well as other teams in the Austin and DFW areas. Then, after a tough loss to St. Michael’s, the Trojans found their way back into the win column against Cy-Fair and Vandegrift to improve to 9-1 through their first 10 games. This set up a marquee Friday night matchup with Texas’ other powerhouse, Hockaday on April 12.
The Trojans fell to the Daisies 17-12, but quickly rebounded ahead of their San Diego trip the next weekend. A doubleheader in The Golden State ensued, and Anderson took game one, defeating La Jolla High School 17-2 behind an 8-goal performance from High Point commit Harper Jones. The following game was tough, and the Trojans lost to Torrey Pines, a team that spent many a week in the West top 10, 15-8.
After a 2 week break from games following their trip to California, AGL was back in action for the state tournament in Dallas in early May. The Trojans cruised through the first weekend, beating Southlake for the second time this season, and defeating St. Johns in the state quarterfinals. This set the stage for another big matchup with Hockaday in the state semifinals in Houston the following weekend.
The Trojans ultimately fell to the eventual state champs 13-10 but finished 2024 with an impressive 12-4 record en route to being one of the last 4 teams in the Lone Star State. The end of the 2024 campaign is certainly a bittersweet one for Trojan faithful, as they now bid goodbye to 6 seniors (5 of which will still be playing lacrosse next year) who were fundamental in building this program into what it is today.
Statistically, Cincinnati signee Chloe Page led the Trojans in points, racking up 73 of them including 49 goals despite missing a pair of games due to injury. She was followed closely behind by Oregon’s Audrey Thompson (61 points, 49 goals) and, the program’s leader in goals (54), High Point’s Harper Jones (60 points). The trio was aided by Flagler signee Maddie Van Den Bossche’s 35 goals, Charlotte commit Olivia Andrus’s 26 scores, and Laney Owens’s 16 goals and team-best 31 assists. Sophomore Jillian Murphy also found the back of the net 19 times this season.
Defensively, the Trojans were led by senior Katie Rich, who is headed to Monmouth University to continue her career next season. Midfielder Audrey Thompson paced the team with 31 groundballs and 21 forced turnovers, narrowly beating out sophomore defender Emerson Isle’s 28 and Jillian Murphy’s 11 respectively. Additionally, junior Sarah McKallip was a force in net for Anderson, starting all 16 games and posting an extremely impressive .416 save percentage.
It’s going to be an interesting off-season for the Trojans with almost half of their starters graduating, but there’s no doubt in my mind that this program will pick up right where they left off next season and hit the ground running. They’ll return starters in Owens, Andrus, Murphy, Isles, defender Lucy Etheredge, and McKallip. Pair that with a solid group of returning backups and a JV team that won the Central Texas championship, and there’s certainly an opportunity for this team to reload for a big run next season. The pieces are there, now it’s time to solve the puzzle.
