Strong Group of Seniors Return for Lacrosse at Roland Park Country School

In her third year as head lacrosse coach at the Roland Park Country School (RPCS), Kristin Nicolini is hoping that a strong contingent of seniors will lead the Reds into the IAAM A conference playoffs.

“We have seven seniors, so I’m really hoping that they can lead the team where they want to be,” Nicolini said. “That said, we did lose a lot with the graduation of our starting defense, but we do have our returning goalkeeper so somewhere in the mix, we’re going to try and find balance.”

Strength lies on attack side of the field, and as well as with the midfield.

Caroline Seats, a senior headed to Georgetown next year, is one of the best all-around players on the team, according to Nicolini.

“She is a name you will hear often this year,” Nicolini said of the midfielder who will take some of the team’s draws. “She is a tremendous athlete; she can play offensively or defensively.”

Also at midfield is Meggie Ramzy, who will enroll at Vanderbilt in the fall.

“She is another middie-attacker, and she can cause a lot of chaos,” Nicolini said. “She’s hard to stop—she’s really quick.”

Mattie Meredith, a senior who plays midfield and attack, is another player to keep an eye on.

“When she’s at her best, she’s a middie,” Nicolini said of Meredith, who is returning after a knee injury last season. “She’s a really good player and she’s really good on offense.”

Daniela Eppler is yet another senior who plays on the midfield, although in Eppler’s instance, it is more of a midfield-defense role.

“She is not going to be so much (an) in-the-box scorer, but she really does a lot in our midfield for transition.”

Madison Formwalt, the team’s leading scorer last year, returns at attack.

Rounding out the nucleus of what Nicolini hopes will be a strong attack is junior Betsy Angel, who started for the Reds last season as a sophomore.

On the defensive side of the field, Lauren Knight will be in goal, a position where she saw some action last season.

Knight will be surrounded by a defense that hasn’t had too much of an opportunity to play together as a unit.

Some have transferred in as sophomores, others didn’t get many game minutes last season.

“On defense, it’s a team defense,” Nicolini said in an early March interview.  “You really have to work together and if you’re not used to playing with one another, then it is challenging.”

Nicolini was counting on last week’s spring break to give the defense the time to work together and begin to gel.

“We really don’t have the liberty for much time,” she said. The Reds opened their league schedule today against one of last year’s top teams—McDonogh—at home.

McDonogh and Notre Dame Prep, last season’s other championship game contender, are probably the toughest teams to beat, according to Nicolini, who noted John Carroll should also be in the mix.

Yet for the Reds, a game that looms large on the schedule is the annual match against rival Bryn Mawr.

“It’s huge, it’s like no other around here,” Nicolini said.  “The girls have classes with these girls during the day—in the uniforms—and then have to go play them, sometimes an hour later on the field.”

And it may get a little personal for Nicolini, an RPCS grad and her sister and co-head coach Reagan Raneri, also an RPCS alum.

“For me, I coach against two of my former coaches” in the Bryn Mawr game.  “My college coach at Georgetown is actually there now coaching.”

Asked how it feels to coach against mentors, Nicolini said it’s fun.

“We have a great relationship, but I would love to beat them this year, as would our seniors. They haven’t beaten them since freshman year—at all.”

The two teams are schedule to meet at Roland Park on Tuesday, April 19, at 3:30 p.m.