Hatboro-Horsham Lacrosse Celebrates Senior Night at Carpenter Park

Hatboro-Horsham lacrosse held a special Senior Night celebration at Carpenter Park on Tuesday. To have your senior celebration included, please send photos/info to SuburbanOneSports@comcast.net. Photos provided courtesy of Sharlene Holliday/Hatboro-Horsham lacrosse.

The Hatboro-Horsham girls’ lacrosse team celebrated Senior Night in style. The team’s seven seniors met at Carpenter Park and were surprised by the arrival of their coaching staff in a caravan that included a Horsham fire truck with Horsham police leading the way. The evening at the park included a brief ceremony with coach Marie Schmucker speaking about each senior.

Seniors on the 2020 lacrosse team were Gabrielle Liott (Ursinus College), Cam Ryan (Drexel University), Sorrell Long (Lebanon Valley College), Audrey Leibfreid (University of Central Florida), Lexie Gill (Penn State University), Cam Hughes (Ohio State University) and Kaitlyn Giandomenico (Temple University). Liott and Ryan will continue their lacrosse careers at the collegiate level while Long will be playing collegiate field hockey.

Coach Marie Schmucker said:  “I have known these kids since sixth grade, so seven years I’ve built relationships, whether teaching them at Keith Valley Middle School or coaching them at the high school level. It’s just a great group of student-athletes. They were all top students in their senior class, and they’re great leaders on and off the field. They brought back the camaraderie to the team.

“This was a very experienced group – they’ve been playing together since third grade in the Hatboro Youth League, so there was a lot of talent here. I know we were going to be a force to be reckoned with.

“The younger kids really looked up to the seniors. We’re a very young team, and with the seven seniors leaving, we’re basically going to start all over, but they paved the way for the younger kids. I believe their leadership, their dedication and just everything they’ve done – they’ve left their mark.

“They were just a great group of kids all around. Just everything about them – their kindness, the camaraderie they had after being together since sixth grade, it was just amazing. Everybody had each other’s back. You’re going to agree to disagree, but overall, they loved each other as teammates. The coaching staff – we loved them. The coaching staff and the players had a great relationship, and we have great memories.”

Senior Gabrielle Liott said:  “We had no idea what was going to happen tonight. We knew all the seniors were coming and we were going to get some kind of recognition – at least be able to see each other for one last time. This was so cool. It started with the parade coming in, and that was just really awesome. Coach Schmucker giving a little speech about each of us made it a lot like Senior Night, the closest to senior year that it could be. It wrapped things up – we were able to see everybody for the last time and had those speeches and recognition that you wait for.

“I have been looking forward to senior year – not only school but especially lacrosse, being the sport I love and am going to college for. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for four years. When we left (in March), I thought it was only going to be two weeks and we were going to be able to have at least part of a season, but it kept getting longer and longer. When we heard the news that schools would be closed the rest of the year, my heart kind of dropped because I was like, ‘Wow, I’m not going to be able to play in a lacrosse game my senior year, see anyone and play with my teammates.’ Nothing feels normal, everything feels off.”

Senior Cam Ryan said:  “Missing our season was awful, it was just awful. It was really hard mentally to know that I wasn’t going to play on the field again. Just knowing this would be my last year and to have it taken away like that, it was horrible. I was 11 goals away from 100, and we had a really good season coming, but I’m glad the last three seasons went well. Looking on the bright side – I had a good career, and I’m happy how it showed.

“Tonight was so nice. It meant a lot to me. It really warmed my heart seeing the teammates I’ve been playing with since middle school. I’m just happy we did this because it was a really nice surprise.”