Upper Dublin girls’ lacrosse celebrated its Senior Night on Monday with a drive-by. To have your team’s senior event posted on the web site, send photos/info to SuburbanOneSports@comcast.net. (Photos provided by Upper Dublin lacrosse)
UD seniors, from left, Lydia Casey, Aileen Kohlbrenner, Jackie Rama, Mack Moore and Julia Reardon on the final day of practice before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday night, the Upper Dublin girls’ lacrosse team celebrated its Senior Night with a drive-by that included coach Dee Cross introducing each senior as she walked out of the house with her family just as they would have on Senior Night. Clyde the Cardinal made an appearance at each 
senior’s house. The coaches – wearing masks – placed a yard sign that had a picture of the seniors and the entire team in the front yard. They also left flowers, personalized gifts from the team, traditional senior gifts and baked goods from their lacrosse ‘families.’
All five seniors were captains, and all five will be going on to college – Lydia Casey (University of Delaware), Mack Moore (Colorado University), Aileen Kohlbrenner (University of Scranton), Jackie Rama (Penn State University) and Julia Reardon (Penn State University). Only Moore will be playing collegiate lacrosse.
Coach Dee Cross said: “It was a great night and a small way to celebrate and recognize our seniors in the best way we could - six feet apart.
“Honestly, once this (pandemic) all started, we had nine practices like everyone else, and I’m slow to have the team vote on captains until we really get to know the personalities and stuff. It was so obvious from the very beginning how these five seniors were such great examples and leaders as a group to all the underclassmen, and that’s why we decided hands down all five of them were going to be the captains, and they were all very touched because they’re so close as a group that they didn’t want to pick or choose either. That’s the one thing that sticks out the most – how together they are. They did things together all the time outside of school.
“They all played club together growing up, they all played for Crooked Crosse growing up. We have pictures of them in second grade, and that’s very unusual that a group would stay together because they really do have all different personalities, they all have different friend groups, but when they’re together and they have a common goal, they’re really one of the best total groups of seniors that I’ve had the opportunity to coach. That’s why it was so heartbreaking when the season just stopped. That’s why on Monday night on our Senior Night, we really tried to recreate it as if it was before a game to make it something special for them. The smiles on their faces and the excitement from the parents – it just was such a nice tribute to them and what they mean to us. I have no doubt that each one of them will succeed in whatever they do because they genuinely put their heart and soul into everything, and that was very obvious how the underclassmen looked up to them and just really thought they were a special group also.”
Senior Lydia Casey said: “It was awesome. I don’t think any of the five of us thought that that big of a celebration was going to be had. I know I didn’t. Our street was blocked, even our neighbors were outside honking. I was first so I went to all the other seniors’ houses too. .jpg)
Everybody was outside and cheering. It was just really great because a lot more people showed up than we thought. Our coaches gave us yard signs that were really cute, and it was just really great to see everyone even if it was just in their cars honking.
“I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen. I just thought it was going to be the coaches and people who could drive. I didn’t think there’d be as many people with their parents, but but there were a ton of people. Our team has lacrosse ‘families,’ and I know everyone’s whole family was able to come, which was really great. They all made posters and had them out the windows, and they made baked goods. The juniors got together gifts, so we got college stuff – make-up bags with our monograms on them, things like that. The coaches gave us a gift too, which was really nice. I couldn’t have asked for more under our circumstances. It would have been great to be able to play, but I think it was just as special.
“It was devastating to lose our season. We found out together, and the five of us have such a strong bond. We’ve been playing together since third grade. We started out with 15 girls in our age group, and it came down to the five of us, so people were coming and going. We’ve been going strong together for a really long time, so to not be able to play our last year all together was really heartbreaking for all of us. You don’t realize how much you miss it until you don’t have it. For me, I put the schedule in my phone, so at three o’clock, I get a reminder that I have a game at Abington, and it’s like - the things I would do to be able to play one more time with my team.”
Senior Mack Moore said: “I was actually kind of nervous because I don’t like all the attention and the spotlight, but once it happened – it was .jpg)
really special. It felt like how I would expect to feel on Senior Night besides the fact that we didn’t have a game, and it was in my front lawn. It was really nice to see all my teammates drive by and just cherish that moment and see my coaches.
“Every other year when I would help organize Senior Night and plan for it and cheered for the seniors, I always imagined – ‘This is going to be me next year.’ ‘This is going to be me in two years.’ It kind of sunk in probably a couple days after we heard the news – that wasn’t going to be happening for me. It was hard at first because that’s something I looked forward to my whole life and sharing that moment with my best friends.
“I’ve played with these girls since third grade, so the season meant a lot to us. We were expecting big things from this season, so we were really heartbroken when it was cancelled. Luckily for me, it wasn’t the last time I’d be playing, so I’m really grateful for that. Not all the other girls can say the same thing. We started with 13 freshmen, and now there are just five of us, and the five that are left are the ones that are really dedicated to the sport and love every second of it. We don’t play the sport just for the social aspect but because we love the game and we love each other, and I think having the team chemistry would have really helped us succeed this year.”
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