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ALL-AREA GIRLS LACROSSE TEAM
PLAYER OF THE YEAR KATY PRIDEMORE
All-Area First Team
Angie Benson
Zan Biedenharn
Olivia Blakeman
Hope Cotten
Logan Eisinger
Megan Gorman
ALEX SLITZ/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS
Ashley MacIntyre
Allison McDonough
Kai Mildenberger
Hannah Palau
Vero Beach High School’s Katy Pridemore is the 2014 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year. To see more photos, go to TCPalm.com.
Playing through the pain
Knee troubles could not to keep Vero Beach’s top attacker down By Laurel Pfahler Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers
Hannah Pridemore
Abby Shields
Quinn Roe
Caroline Smith
ANGIE BENSON
Martin County junior goalie Statistics: 98 saves
ZAN BIEDENHARN
Vero Beach junior attacker Statistics: 37 goals, 29 assists
OLIVIA BLAKEMAN
Vero Beach senior defender Statistics: 13 goals, 12 assists, 20 draw controls, 34 ground balls
HOPE COTTEN
Jensen Beach senior midfielder Statistics: 77 goals, 12 assists, 41 draw controls, 58 ground balls
LOGAN EISINGER
Vero Beach senior defender Statistics: 3 goals, 21 ground balls, 3 interceptions
Katy Pridemore always has played under heavy pressure from opposing defenses. But this season, the Vero Beach High School senior overcame obstacles like never before. Playing a schedule that included four teams that finished in the top five nationally last year, Vero Beach was tested by some of the best players in the country. Pridemore, a three-time U.S. Lacrosse All-American, shouldered much of that load as the Fighting Indians’ go-to attacker, and she still produced — despite playing through a knee injury most of the season. Pridemore led Vero Beach with 76 goals, 40 assists and 33 draw controls, helping the Fighting Indians to a ninth consecutive state final win and a No. 3 ranking in the Nike/U.S. Lacrosse National Top 25. Twenty of her goals came in six games against out-of-state opponents that currently are or previously were nationally ranked. “She was the player opponents always had to game plan for,” Vero Beach coach Shannon Dean said. “She was constantly double- and triple-teamed, but she still performed, even against the top teams in the nation. She is just a special player. She is one of the best players in the country for sure — she’s proven it day in and day out.” For her success against top competition, Pridemore is the 2014 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year for a second consecutive season.
Player of the Year
Coach of the Year
KATY PRIDEMORE
SHANNON DEAN
Vero Beach senior midfielder Statistics: 76 goals, 40 assists, 33 draw controls in 20 games Coach Shannon Dean: “Katy finished her lacrosse career at Vero Beach High School as one of the best players in program history. Her leadership on and off the field was a credit to our success in 2014. She is a true studentathlete who symbolizes all that we stand for at VBHS lacrosse.”
“Pretty much every game, I was face-guarded, and I was getting triple-teamed a lot of the time,” said Pridemore, who was recruited by the top college programs in the country, but signed with Division I Liberty University for its Christian atmosphere. “There was more pressure to stay involved even though all that was going on, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. I knew I could do it, because we push each other so hard in practice, and it really helps.” Pridemore wasn’t sure she would even be able to play this season. A knee injury resurfaced last year after she took a hit to the ground in a game against then-No. 2 St. Anthony’s (New York), a marquee win for the Fighting Indians in which she scored eight goals. Cartilage then started giving away, which originally started when Pridemore suffered a complete tear of the PCL while playing basketball her freshman year in Maryland. To get through this season, Pridemore got a cortisone injection to temporarily relieve the pain, but she said it began wearing off during an intense eight-day period that included games against
five out-of-state opponents. Pridemore scored 10 goals in the first two games in that stretch, including the winning goal in the final seconds against Georgetown Visitation (D.C.), but she was limited to two goals and six assists in two more games that week and had to sit out one game. Three weeks later, in the final two regular-season games against No. 2 Moorestown (New Jersey) and then-No. 5 St. Anthony’s (New York), Pridemore once again shined with eight goals and three assists. “I had pain throughout the whole season, but I just had to play through it,” Pridemore said. “They bumped me (from midfield) to attack so I wouldn’t have to run as much, but I don’t know if that helped because you’re still running the whole field in attack. I played through it, even if it started to hurt, and in those big games my adrenaline was rushing, so I didn’t notice it as much.” Regardless of the pain, Pridemore said it was a memorable season. “It’s jaw-dropping to look back and see what we did,” Pridemore said. “It’s really cool. At first, it was like, ‘What the heck is happening?
Vero Beach, 12th year This season: Dean guided the Fighting Indians to their ninth consecutive state final win, extended their in-state win streak to 128 games and finished the season 21-3. The team posted a 4-3 record against out-of-state competition, despite playing seven teams that are or were ranked in the national Top 25. The challenging schedule earned Vero Beach a No. 3 national ranking in the Nike/U.S. Lacrosse poll. Its three losses were against No. 1 McDonogh (Md.), No. 2 Moorestown (N.J.) and No. 17 St. Anthony’s (N.Y.). Quotable: “It was a banner year for our program. The dynamics of our schedule tested this team each week but, in the end, it paid off with a state championship. Our entire coaching staff deserves this award, as they have proven time and time again that they are the best at what they do.”
That’s five games in a row and top teams!’ But looking back, we’re just as good as all of them and we held our own. It’s cool to say we can do that because no one else in the country can say they played four of the top five teams. It was definitely a lot of fun.”
MEGAN GORMAN
Vero Beach sophomore midfielder Statistics: 20 goals, 7 assists, 35 draw controls, 19 ground balls
ASHLEY MACINTYRE
Vero Beach junior midfielder Statistics: 19 goals, 3 assists, 33 draw controls, 22 ground balls
First Team continued KAI MILDENBERGER Jensen Beach sophomore midfielder/attacker Statistics: 45 goals, 64 assists, 38 ground balls, 43 draw controls
ALLISON MCDONOUGH Vero Beach junior goalkeeper Statistics: 168 saves on 311 shots for a 54 percent save rate
HANNAH PALAU
Vero Beach junior attacker Statistics: 25 goals, 32 assists, 28 draw controls, 25 ground balls Poll: Palau topped our TCPalm.com all-area readers poll with 32 percent of the votes.
HANNAH PRIDEMORE
Vero Beach junior attacker Statistics: 43 goals, 13 assists, 16 draw controls, 17 ground balls
QUINN ROE
Martin County junior midfielder Statistics: 33 goals, 19 assists, 39 draw controls, 31 ground balls
ABBY SHIELDS
Vero Beach junior midfielder Statistics: 51 goals, 13 assists, 40 draw controls, 29 ground balls
CAROLINE SMITH
Martin County senior midfielder Statistics: 38 goals, 15 assists, 39 draw controls, 31 ground balls
Honorable Mention CASEY ARLOTTA Sebastian River sophomore attacker CHRISTIANA BUTZ St. Edward’s senior attacker JENNY DENORIO John Carroll junior midfielder MORGAN FALKENHAGEN St. Edward’s senior midfielder
KENDALL HOLYCROSS Sebastian River junior attacker ABBIE HORCHAR South Fork sophomore midfielder BRE’ASIA JAMES St. Edward’s senior defender DANIELLE JENSEN Martin County junior defender
JENNY KILBRIDE Jensen Beach senior defender TIFFANY LASTER Pine School senior attacker EMILY LONG Vero Beach senior defender ALEY MARK Jensen Beach sophomore attacker
SYDNEY MURPHY Vero Beach junior defender AUDREY ROBERTSON Jensen Beach junior midfielder SAMANTHA SINGER Martin County sophomore attacker TARA WINDSOR Martin County senior attacker