IMMEDIATE IMPACT: Stuart Country Day School lacrosse player Allison Lee races upfield in a game earlier this season. Last Wednesday, freshman star Lee tallied seven goals and two assists to help Stuart defeat Rutgers Prep 14-4. On Friday, Lee contributed four goals and five assists to help the Tartans edge the Ranney School 12-11 to improve to 3-5. Stuart was slated to start action in the state Prep B tournament this week where it is seeded sixth and was scheduled to play at third-seeded PDS on April 26 in a first round contest. In addition, the Tartans will be playing at Hamilton West on April 27. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

It didn’t take long for Allison Lee to make an impact this spring in her freshman season for the Stuart Country Day School lacrosse team.

The skilled midfielder tallied four goals in a season opening 17-7 defeat to Princeton Day School on April 4 in a harbinger of things to come.

“Everyone has their role on the team and my role has been to help with the scoring,” said Lee. “I can always count on my team. They are always supporting me so it allows me to score.”

Last Wednesday, Lee scored early and often, tallying seven goals and two assists in a 14-4 win over Rutgers Prep as the Tartans posted their second win in the last three games.

“In practice, we have been working really hard, we have been working on different plays,” said Lee. “It is a lot about the teamwork. In the beginning, it was little bit rougher but then we started to come together. The whole team has been working really hard and it has been showing in the results.”

While Lee is making it look easy, she acknowledged that adjusting to high school lacrosse has been challenging.

“It has been hard mentally getting into the groove,” said Lee, who took up lacrosse in third grade and plays for a club program. “But I can rely on my team so much.”

Forming a one-two punch with junior star Emily Ix has helped Lee get into the groove.

“I love working with Emily, she is so nice and she is an excellent player,” said Lee, who tallied four goals and five assists to help the Tartans edge the Ranney School 12-11 last Friday as they improved to 3-5. “She and I just really click together, it has been nice playing with her.”

Stuart head coach Mark Maser liked the way the Tartan offense clicked in the win over Rutgers Prep as it jumped out to a 9-0 lead with five different players scoring goals.

“We are evenly distributing the ball, nobody is too possessive of it,” says Maser. “We are looking for the open player and that is what we have been stressing on practice.”

Stuart has been looking for Lee around goal. “Allison keeps getting a little bit better every day; we have talked to her about moving the goalie and placing the shots because she has that talent to do it,” said Maser of Lee, who has tallied a team-high 46 points on 33 goals and 13 assists.

“She is motivating others through her play. She is modeling good play and others see it. She might not be the most outspoken. Rather than leading by words, she is leading by deed and example.”

Junior Anna Landis has been providing the Tartans with some good play, coming up with three goals against Rutgers Prep.

“Anna has been working on her shot,” said Maser. “She has a lot better shot placement, that has helped quite a bit. She realizes next year that she is going to be stepping up in a different role. We have been running her more in midfield when we get the opportunity to start to train for that next year.”

The Stuart defense has been stepping up in recent action.

“We are being more aggressive on defense,” said Maser. “We are playing more closer to the ball, we are bringing the defense more to them.”

With Stuart slated to start action in the state Prep B tournament this week where it is seeded sixth and was scheduled to play at third-seeded PDS on April 26 in a first round contest, Maser believes his squad is headed in the right direction.

“The biggest areas of progress have been finding the open person and increasing our lacrosse IQ,” said Maser, whose team will also be playing at Hamilton West on April 27.

“It is understanding that it is just as important for the off ball players to be doing the right thing as well as the ball carrier. We are starting to understand positioning. We are starting to understand that you have multiple options. We are trying to set up a basic offense with the ball carrier having two choices. They keep playing, they keep chugging along.”

Lee, for her part, believes that Tartans will keep chugging along.

“We are going to keep building on what we have been working on in practice,” said Lee. “I can’t say enough about the foundation that these upperclassmen have provided for our team. Our wins are nice but we are getting closer and close in our losses.”