Windham’s Trainor scores 100th goal in girls’ lacrosse win over Bonny Eagle

By Matt Pascarella

Windham sophomore Abby Trainor was just four goals away from scoring her 100th high school career at home on Saturday, May 11 during a home girls’ lacrosse game against Bonny Eagle. She became the third player to accomplish this milestone in Windham’s history and the Lady Eagles commanded the field and earned a solid 18-3 win over the Scots.

Windham sophomore Abby Trainor scores her 100th goal
during a girls' lacrosse game against Bonny Eagle at
Windham High School on Saturday, May 11. Trainor is
the third athlete in the program's history to achieve this
distinction. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA    

“It feels really good, but the main focus today was just winning,” said Trainor. “I’m really proud of myself, I know my teammates are proud. I wasn’t focused on the achievement as much ... I was like ‘let’s win, let’s ... hustle’ the accomplishment came along the way. This [happened] because of the incredible coaching and all the teammates around me that helped with some of these goals, because a goal is the end of a good play. It’s great to do it with this team, my 100th goal was assisted, and I think that shows teamwork. I’m really hard working, people around me are hardworking. When we all come together, so many people can achieve so many different things.”

Windham came out aggressive from the very start; senior Mallory Muse scored in the first 25 seconds. Sophomore Neve Ledbetter scored next. The Lady Eagle offense then began crushing it in this game.

“It’s really just a time to grow as a team and at these times we can focus in on the littlest thing so when it comes to big, big games, we’re ready,” said Ledbetter. “Having a team like this and being able to play with each other is one of the most rewarding things ever. Hustle, defense [went well]. Everyone was playing together and passing to each other. It was such a team contribution to the whole game and it was so impressive to watch. I think we still need to work hard and hustle, but overall, I think we are extremely talented.”

Windham junior Grace Joly scored next, followed by Trainor who was only three goals away from 100. Trainor then scored back-to-back goals. With 3:46 left in the first quarter, Trainor scored her 100th goal, assisted by Ledbetter.

“The thing about Abby that really is impressive to me is this year she has really elevated her game in not just how she scores, but how she drives and draws attention, dishes and gets assists,” said Windham varsity girls’ lacrosse coach Matt Perkins. “Her creativity on offense is creating pockets for everybody. She does an awesome job of passing the ball, getting her teammates open, their teammates do a great job finding her. She does a phenomenal job causing turnovers. She’s a full all-around player; she’s not just a scorer. She brings so much to the team.”

Trainor scored twice more along with Ledbetter and senior Marlie Ennis before the first buzzer. Windham led 13-1 at the half.

Muse scored in the first minute of the second half. Lady Eagle defense remained intense as Bonny Eagle had a very hard time scoring. Windham sophomore Brianna Duarte scored her first varsity goal, easily sending the ball past the goalie.

“It was a big rush for me and that was like my biggest, crazy moment that I’ve ever really had and I’m working to get the next one,” said Duarte. “We worked really well getting the ball around and running our offense, working together as a team. We’ve been getting that one percent better at practice and we’re going to continue to push ourselves to get better. We need to work on our ground balls and obviously defense a little bit, on transition, everything, and getting the ride. We need to use our aggression and teamwork and push ourselves to continue winning games and pushing each other to get better.”

Windham stayed with the ball and sophomore Mady Donnelly scored before the last buzzer.

“Practice contributed to this win,” said Perkins. “The girls showing up ready to go, not wasting time, but buying into what we’re doing and us working on what our weaknesses are ... them getting after it in drills and focusing on those things has helped us improve as a whole. Today we saw a much better job of driving [Bonny Eagle] out of the eight [meter arc], controlling the eight, making sure they didn’t have free shots in front of our goalie – that was huge. Continuing to work on passes and putting the right amount of zip on them, that’s just something that’s a work-in-progress.” <