Lady Admirals lacrosse makes 1st state tourney
The Farragut High School girls lacrosse team made great strides during the 2018 season. The Lady Admirals reached the state tournament for the first time in club history.
Farragut has had a winning record in each of its four campaigns but the Lady Admirals will look to exhibit even more improvement and reach new heights in 2019.
“We are extremely proud of the rapid growth of ladies lacrosse at Farragut High School,” said head coach Holly Kelly, a former NCAA Division I club player at the University of Tennessee. “The team reached the State Tournament in its fourth year of existence.”
The climb has been challenging for FHS according to Kelly, who is assisted by Madison Christian, who also played Division I Club lacrosse at UT.
“We literally spent our first two seasons teaching the game to many players,” Kelly said. “In our third year, we saw a huge improvement, recording a 14-5 record.”
The Lady Admirals were young in 2018, but the team had high expectations and Farragut’s large freshman class made some big contributions during the recently-completed campaign.
For that, Kelly said she credits Farragut Middle School girls lacrosse coach Montana Wright. “With the help of a Montana Wright-led middle school feeder program, this team used several freshman players to earn a regional runner-up status and a trip to the state tournament,” Kelly said. “We have always enjoyed a winning season.
“But our 2018 team used a balanced attack and a solid defense to earn the right to play in the state tournament.”
The Lady Ads may have been young, but they lost five seniors from the 2018 squad as Caroline Tabeling, Caroline Christian, Jada Carson, Haley Wren and Sidney Bachrach have all graduated.
“This year, we lose five seniors but we’ll gain 10 rising ninth graders and we already have a solid rising 10th grade group, so our future has high expectations and hopes to make an annual presence at the state tournament,” Kelly said.
Wren, an attacker, left the program on a high note as she received First-Team All-Regional honors. She was Farragut’s first-ever first-team selection. She also was a finalist for Prep Xtra girls lacrosse Player of the Year.
Tabeling, a defender, earned Second-Team All-Regional honors along with junior attacker Chloe Dodson and freshman midfielder Megan DeFranco.
Farragut has three alumnae playing college lacrosse: Linden Perkins (Class of 2015) at Tusculum, and Emma and Christa Hill (Class of 2017) at Lee University in Cleveland.
Bachrach will become the fourth FHS grad to play collegiately, recently signing with Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
