TOWAMENCIN — The North Penn Girls Lacrosse team anxiously awaited the day the linked chain that kept them from entering the glorified North Penn turf would be removed. Just recently, the time has finally come. On March 8th, they stepped on their home field—a place where celebration, hard work, and failure are all attributed to—for the first time since 2019. 

The North Penn Girls Lacrosse team has not had a season since 2019, due to the inopportune timing of the virus last March. With that being said, the girls are more than ready to take on their opponents one by one this spring. 

Senior Lily Szilagyi has been awaiting this season for quite some time, as she had the majority of her high school lacrosse career taken away from her. Szilagyi has played lacrosse since she was in 2nd grade and dedicated hours and hours to the sport to become the player she is today. The absence of lacrosse from her life last year impacted her tremendously, and she was unsure of what to do with all of the time on her hands.

“Not having practice and being with my teammates every day definitely took some getting used to, but I continued my training during quarantine to the best of my ability, so I have a really good feeling about this coming season and what’s in store for us,” Szilagyi said. 

With a slightly modified season, the girls are happy to have been given the opportunity to play and get back out on the field. With 15 games packed into their schedule, the month of March consists of a combination of practices and scrimmages, while the girls have their home opener on April 9th against Plymouth Whitemarsh. 

In addition to their modified season, the girls are now required to get an antigen test every Monday, in an effort to guarantee that the girls are in fact “Covid-free”. This addition to the spring sports seasons is a huge change and is something that will take some getting used to, however, it is imperative to ensure the health and safety of our athletes.

“Even though it is one more added Covid protocol to have to follow, we are happy to do it if it helps to keep our team from having to shut down or quarantine for two weeks during our season. After missing our season last year, we want to get as much playing time as possible this season,” Head Coach Heather Mellow said. 

Senior Caroline Hoy is in a similar position as Szilagyi, as she has played throughout the extent of her high school career and is more than ready to get out on the field one last time. 

“This team is like a second family to me, and to be able to get back out on the field with them one last time before we graduate is everything to me,” Hoy said.

Hoy and Szilagyi have both watched the team develop into what it is today over the course of their high school careers. They watched the senior class graduate year after year, and this year, they are the seniors that are to graduate. 

Head Coach Mellow has put all of her time and energy into putting together a somewhat normal season for the girls and packing in their schedule with as many games as possible. To do this, Mellow has incorporated a series of scrimmages into their season to provide the girls with the high-level competition and exposure they have missed out on last season. Mellow was extremely happy with the outcome of their first scrimmage against Lansdale Catholic. 

“Our scrimmage with Lansdale Catholic was a good entry point for our season. Everyone got to see plenty of playing time. We only have three returning starters from our team 2 years ago, so we have a lot we need to work on in all aspects of the game. We are fortunate because our team has many outstanding athletes on it. I think we have the potential to have a very good upcoming season but we will simply be grateful for every day we get to compete,” Mellow said. 

That being said, the team is off to a great start, looking to restore the momentum they had lost last season. This season, their mentality is everything. The girls have been looking at things from a different perspective and are more grateful now than ever before that they are able to play the sport that they love.