LIVING IT UP: Hun School girls’ lacrosse star Olivia Kim heads to goal in a game last season. Senior attacker and Williams College commit Kim figures to be a go-to scorer for Hun. Last Saturday, Kim tallied three goals and an assist as Hun topped Stuart County Day 16-11 to improve to 2-0. In upcoming action, the Raiders, who are being guided by new head coach Geoffrey Chrisman, host Lawrenceville on April 10 and the Perkiomen School (Pa.) on April 13 before playing at Mount St. Mary on April 13 and then hosting Pennington on April 15. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

When Geoffrey Chrisman came to the Hun School last fall to teach and coach, it was a bit of a homecoming.

Growing up in Princeton, Chrisman played football and lacrosse at Princeton High and went on to serve as an assistant coach for the Tiger football program for six years.

“Coming home is an awesome thing, my parents still live in Princeton, I have been there a lot,” said Chrisman, who previously had coaching gigs at WW/P-South and North Hunterdon. “Being connected to the community is always something that has been important to me. Even though I am on the other side of town that I technically grew up in, I run into people.”

Last fall, Chrisman developed an instant connection to the Hun community, serving as an assistant coach for the Raider field hockey team that won the Mercer County Tournament.

“For about three seconds, I was thinking it is going to be strange not being a head coach,” said Chrisman who guided the North Hunterdon field hockey team to New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Group 3 state titles in 2021 and 2022. “It is just such a new world of learning. It was awesome to be an assistant coach to see how everything worked. to actually have a strength and conditioning staff and see how the academics of the building worked. It was great to be able to coach and be with that group of young ladies. It was awesome.”

Looking ahead to this spring, Chrisman was initially slated to be an assistant coach for the Hun boys’ lax program. But his bond with the field hockey players helped lead him in a different direction as he decided to go for the Raider girls’ lax head coaching post which was open as previous coach Kathleen Jaeger had left to become an assistant for the Stevens women’s lax team.

“They were looking and looking to find the candidate they wanted,” said Chrisman of the program that went 9-6 in 2023. “A bunch of the girls also played field hockey and developing that close relationship, I talked to Steve Everette (former PHS football head coach) and said I am thinking of switching over to this girls’ lacrosse job. He said it was about time you figured that out, I knew you were going to do this two months ago.”

Chrisman got the job and didn’t waste any time putting his stamp on the program.

“I am a big acronym guy, I came out with our core principles,” said Chrisman. “For me, I tell every team I have ever coached, creating a positive culture is my No. 1 goal. Winning is for them and creating this awesome space for kids to be successful and feel safe and grow but work really hard, that is winning for me. We talked about our mantra this year,  R-A-I-D, which is responsibility, accountability, initiative, and determination. We outlined how we are doing that in sports, in school, in our community to develop that cultural backbone that we always fall back on.”

The Raiders players have been receptive to Chrisman’s approach.

“They have been phenomenal, our growth has been exponential,” said Chrisman, noting that the squad had a productive trip to Florida over spring break that saw the Raiders faced several high-powered New England prep programs. “They have bought in. Just after Thanksgiving, when we started lifting, it was really the first time that we got the girls into a weight room. We had 15, 16 girls a session. Then we had a winter offseason team for the first time ever. We have got just about 40 kids in the program.”

Hun features a phenomenal player in senior attacker and Williams College commit Olivia Kim, who tallied 52 goals and 12 assists last spring.

“Olivia is our absolute rock all of the time, we talk about being consistently consistent and we know exactly what we are going to get with Liv all of the time,” said Chrisman of Kim who had three goals and one assist as Hun defeated Stuart Country Day 16-11 last Saturday to improve to 2-0. “She is a tremendous leader. The older girls look up to her, she got voted one of our captains. I looked at how upperclassmen interact with the younger players and the younger players adore her. You can tell just how positive a leader she is in there.”

Sophomore Aspen Swanson has emerged as one of the squad’s top younger players.

“She had a great field hockey season but lacrosse is her thing,” said Chrisman of Swanson who had eight goals and eight assists in 2023. “She is really explosive down there, she has had an awesome preseason.”

The Raiders boast another explosive performer in senior star and Tufts University commit Ava Olender, who scored 36 goals with five assists last season.

“Ava will play some attack and also midfield,” said Chrisman. “She brings the athleticism and her ability to find the back of the cage is extremely unique and explosive. We are going to use her in a couple of different areas. We can play a lot of games with her, it is the same thing with Liv. We can put them wherever we want on the field to create mismatches.”

In the midfield, sophomores Keaton Vales and Emma Stowe, are bringing some athleticism.

“There are two girls who have really come along,” said Chrisman. “Keaton had a great offseason. She was injured last year, I think she only got to play in one game. This year is a little bit of a redemption year, she has been great. Another sophomore, Emma, is about 6 feet tall and is just an absolute workhorse for us. Down in Florida, we called her our auto-clear, she played lights out. She is taking on a leadership role a little bit, she is going to have a big impact in the midfield for us.”

The defense will be spearheaded by senior Kaia Diaz along with classmates Norah Kempson and Lauren Larkin and junior Dana Trotta.

“Kaia was voted one of the captains along with Ava and Liv,” said Chrisman. “She has been tremendous down there, that is where we have the majority of our older girls. Norah from field hockey is going to start down there also with Lauren and Dana. We have a lot of age there.”

Sophomore Julia Wolfe is showing a lot of promise at goalie.

“Julia is in goal, I was shocked when I found out she was a first year player last year,” said Chrisman. “She bought in after last season. She started playing club and  started working with some goalie-specific trainers. She played lights out in Florida, she had 16 saves against Deerfield. She has a chance to be special.”

Chrisman believes Hun can have a special season if it plays with poise and lives up to its R-A-I-D mantra.

“We need to make sure that we limit our unforced turnovers, playing calm even when things get a little hectic and not forcing stuff, that is a big thing,” said Chrisman, whose team will host Lawrenceville on April 10 and the Perkiomen School (Pa.) on April 13 before playing at Mount St. Mary on April 13 and then hosting Pennington on April 15.

“We have learned all new systems so it is trusting the system and trusting the process, even with the bumps and then always falling back on our pillars of R-A-I-D when we hit those bumps. So far they have bought in exceptionally quickly. It has been pretty awesome to see it; the girls have been tremendous in this cultural shift.”