PUTTING ON A SHOW: Shoshi Henderson heads upfield this spring in her sophomore season for the Pomona-Pitzer College women’s lacrosse team. Former Princeton High star Henderson tallied 21 goals and 78 assists to help Pomona produce the best season in program history as it went 21-2 and advanced to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals. (Photo provided courtesy of Pomona-Pitzer Athletics)

By Bill Alden

In 2022, Shoshi Henderson produced a record-breaking freshman season for the Pomona-Pitzer College women’s lacrosse team.

Former Princeton High star Henderson piled up 132 points on 42 goals and 90 assists, setting program single-season marks in points and assists.

Coming into her sophomore campaign this spring, Henderson realized it would be hard to match the statistics she generated in her debut campaign and turned her focus to other goals.

“I had such an unexpectedly really great season my freshman year and wow, that was awesome,” said Henderson. “I decided to put that behind me. I am not ever going to recreate that, that is just never going to happen again. It was special, I will have those memories. I will have that experience, but I just want to keep making this team better and just contribute in any way that I can.”

While Henderson scored fewer points with this spring with 21 goals and 78 assists, she contributed in other ways as Pomona produced the best season in program history, going 21-2 and advancing to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals.

Diversifying her game, Henderson worked hard to become a factor on the Pomona ride, where an offensive player marks an opposing defensive player to try to get the ball and prevent a clear.

“I actually had a rough first two, three games where I was still doing stuff and assisting but my shot percentage was maybe 11 percent,” said Henderson, who had 26 caused turnovers this spring. “That is when I took a step back and focused on the team and on the ride. If I throw away the ball or miss a shot, I can control how much I work to get the ball back. Throughout the season, I really, really focused on that. As a team we all focused on that aspect. Our defense, our goalie, our middles, our attack — just everyone going after the ball.”

In addition, despite being an underclassman, Henderson stepped up as a leader.

“I had that experience so I was able to be a little bit more of a leader on the field especially with the freshmen and even upperclassmen on the field,” said Henderson. “On this team, it is very much that everybody is equal. It was just being as much of a leader on the field as I could and working with my teammates.”

With Pomona coming off an 18-1 season in 2022, Henderson was not surprised to see the Sagehens make history this spring.

“We all kind of collectively knew that this was the year; there are some teams that you are on where you can just sense it is a special group of people,” said Henderson. “I would say in high school, my sophomore year that was just a special group. When I think of high school lacrosse that it the team I think of. That is the kind of thing with this team. We had some super seniors, fifth years that came back who are just an incredible set of people and players. Having them come back, you know it is going to be special. They just had so much experience under their belt. The freshmen are a great class and so was mine. Our coach (Sarah Queener) emphasized that we could do some really great things this year if everybody buys into it and works hard.”

Pomona served notice early that it was going to be a force in 2023, starting 6-0 and outscoring its foes 127-26 in the process.

“Something that goes overlooked because of the scores was our defense,” said Henderson. “Our defense was just outstanding this year. We make turnovers, we make plenty of mistakes, and we are not scoring every possession. We trust the defense fully, just knowing that they are going to get the ball back and we are going to get another chance.”

While the Sagehens fell 14-6 to Wesleyan in mid-March to snap their winning streak, Henderson saw the setback as a key learning experience.

“Coming into the season, we knew that would be our hardest regular season game,” said Henderson. “We really wanted to win and I think we could have won. This is going to be an opportunity for us to see what we need to work on. It was, ‘OK, we lost, but what did we do well? In what regards were we able to keep up with them? What were the things we saw where we can grow?’ That was such a great opportunity because after that we had a lot of practice and that definitely helped us in the NCAAs. That wasn’t first time we were seeing a team of that caliber.”

Facing rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) tournament final in early May, Pomona nearly stumbled as it pulled out a 13-12 win.

“You know it is always going to be a game because it is a rivalry and you are playing them for the seventh time in the past two years,” said Henderson. “They know us, we know them. In that game, we had a really great start and then let it go. A lot of us were playing not to lose instead of playing to win. It gave us a wakeup call. It was OK, we need to get our act together for the NCAAs. That kind of thing did teach us that we don’t want to play this way again. We want to play a full 60 minutes, that is how we want into postseason.”

The Sagehens played a full 60 minutes as they started their NCAA run with a 24-7 win over George Fox in a second round contest.

“That was one of our best games as a team,” said Henderson, who tallied one goal and four assists in the victory. “We just came out in this game firing all over the field; everybody that game was just on and ready. It was a great team win to know you are out there and this feels great. There are some wins where you feel, ‘oh, we survived,’ but that game was so fun.”

Pomona had a lot of fun in the Sweet 16, stifling Kenyon 11-3 to earn the program’s first-ever trip to the NCAA quarters.

“Our defense played out of their minds against Kenyon, in that game I was in awe of our defense,” said Henderson. “It was just stop after stop. You know it is going to be good when our defense starts with a 90-second violation on the shot clock right off the bat. In Kenyon’s first three possessions, we got turnovers because they held the ball too long. We came in thinking that it was going to be pretty evenly matched — they were ranked 21st and we were ranked 18th. We were all really excited to get to travel as a team to Ohio, it is just special to be together. The coaches call it free lacrosse, like most of the country is done right now. We were one of the 16 teams that still get to play, so it was just seeing it as a special moment with our seniors. We just played for them. It was, ‘let’s not let this be their last game.’”

The matchup against Franklin & Marshall in the NCAA quarters turned out to the be the last game for the Sagehens as they fell 18-13 on May 21 to end the season at 21-2.

“That was tough, we had played the day before and we really didn’t have that much time to prepare for them,” said Henderson, who had a goal and three assists in the loss. “At halftime, we were down 12-4 and it wasn’t looking good. We weren’t really getting shots and we were all down in the dumps. That is when our coaches said as we were rallying up, like next year, how do we want to feel about this game? We either want to make an insane comeback and somehow win this game and go to the Final 4. Or we end up losing but we can be proud that we put in all of our effort. We did the absolute most that we could and at the end of the day, they just had a better day. We started the second half off so strong. It was, ‘wow, we can do this,’ but it ended up being a too little, too late.”

While the loss stung, it didn’t take away from what the Sagehens accomplished this spring.

“It was the best team we have ever had in program history,” said Henderson. “It was the highest rank that we have ever been — we ended up 12th in the final rankings. It is the farthest we have gone in the NCAA tournament. It was the most wins in a season.”

In reflecting on the qualities that made the group special, Henderson cited work ethic and chemistry.

“I think the leadership we did have with the fifth years and the overall commitment that everybody put in and had to our team,” said Henderson. “We all just loved each other so much and we are each other’s best friends. I come to practice every single day and get to run around with my best friends. To me, that is why I just absolutely love this team and love lacrosse so much.”

That upbeat spirit carried over into the games. “I love our coaches, they just made it such a great environment to be a part of,” said Henderson. “We all just wanted to win for each other. Even if I am not playing great, I am going to give it my all because I am doing for everybody. I am not playing lacrosse for myself, I am playing for everybody else. I just want to win so badly for everybody else, that is when it is really special. That is not a lot of teams and I think that was our team.”

In the wake of Pomona’s success this spring, Henderson believes that the program can keep climbing up the ladder of Division III lacrosse.

“We went from the Sweet 16 to the Elite 8,” said Henderson. “Next year we want to get the Final 4 and senior year, we want to win. This year was a big, big step. I think we are very set up to continue this success. We are losing a lot of people but I have no doubt that we will have an amazing season.”

This summer, Henderson is dedicated to further honing her skills to continue her growth as a player.

“At the end of the season, I really started focusing on my driving,” said Henderson, whose is also coaching club lacrosse with her younger sister, Sarah, a Princeton High lax standout. “I had some good goals at the end of the season that I was really proud of. I wanted to be a better one-vs-one attacker; I felt like I put in that work. Feeding gets pretty predictable. I want to make my game as well rounded as possible. So my shooting and my shot placement and my dodges toward the end of the season is what I was really focusing on. That is what I am going to pick up on from there. That is what I am working on in the offseason; it is exciting because I have always wanted to get better.”