I’ve seen a lot of history repeating itself in the games of field hockey and lacrosse. I’ve seen coaches in both sports set records in the same year, players setting scoring records around the same time, teams dominating for long periods of time (more than a decade), and other strange and unusual coincidences.
The latest happened this week. In college women’s lacrosse and scholastic women’s lacrosse, two all-time leading goal-scorers ended their careers within three days of each other thanks to one-goal defeats in games that ended in thrilling fashion.
Sunday, Izzy Scane of Northwestern University, the NCAA’s leading goal-scorer with 376, finished her college career with a 14-13 loss to Boston College in a game which was not decided until the last few minutes.
Two days later, Caroline Ling of Springboro (Ohio) saw her record career end with a 12-11 loss to Cincinnati Walnut Hills (Ohio) on a goal scored at the final horn. Ling, who will be playing at Rutgers next spring, finished her career with 561 goals, more than any other scholastic player in a four-year varsity career.
Other interesting parallels between Scane and Ling include the fact that both chose a Big Ten Conference school for their collegiate play. Also, both hail from the upper Midwest — Scane from Michigan, Ling from Ohio.
Now, while Scane was in the 2018 Under Armour All-America Game, we learned today that Ling was not chosen in the fourth and final “wave” of selections for this year’s game, which is scheduled to take place July 27th in Baltimore.
Somehow, I think this snub will spur Ling similar to how Kayla Martello was fueled last Sunday by not being selected as a Tewaaraton Finalist, or even the All-Tournament team of the ACC Tournament.
If so, Rutgers’ opponents need to watch out.
