Bromfield girls lacrosse players are more ready than ever to “Bring it” to the new season where they will vie for the district title with an expanded team. Each year, the team picks a slogan to inspire the team toward success. This year’s is “Bring it!” To coach and Harvard resident Dave Planchet, this slogan means “bring your best effort and your best attitude each and every day. If we do that, we expect to be successful.”
Planchet is returning for his fourth year as head coach. He is joined by Katie Hayward coaching the JV and Maesa Phongsamouth coaching the middle school team. Bromfield ended last season with a loss in the district finals against Groton-Dunstable after being moved up to the Mid-Wach League Division A.
Bromfield has so far played one regular season game against Littleton, defeating the Tigers 19–9 Tuesday, Apr. 3, in an away matchup.
Planchet said in a recent interview, “We have a talented team this year, perhaps the most talent top to bottom, and we return 10 starters, so we expect big things this year.” Despite still being a young team, Planchet said, the team goal is to contend for the Mid-Wach A league championship and win the district title.
The team’s lineup emphasizes this point. “Naturally, every year losing seniors is a big deal, but that ‘churn’ creates new opportunities for the next great Bromfield lacrosse players,” Planchet said. “This year we have a great core of the seniors, Emily Podgorni in goal, Chandler Farley at attack, and Anita Childers at [defense]. We return our entire starting defense with Caroline Mara, Anna Laursen, and Raiya Suliman. They bring a year of solid experience. At attack we have Courtney Route and Bri Carlisle and at midfield our only returner is Izzy Planchet. However, we have a solid group of players either new to the team this year or that will have expanded roles. Ainsley Jones, Izzy Katter, Nat L’Ecuyer, and Sophie Bartrum all return from last year’s team and will have more responsibility. Olivia and Bella Kehoe and Tallie Dutkewych will be thrust into the lineup this year as newcomers.”
Their recent performance shows this as well. Planchet reported fast and skilled practices and games where the team was strong all around. He cited the Littleton game, where eight players scored. “I don’t recall ever having eight scorers in a game in my previous four years’ coaching,” he said.
A growing roster
The team’s strength is not just limited to the varsity. Bromfield has 47 players this year playing on all three teams, the biggest roster to date. Planchet drew special attention to the nine seventh-graders who are indicators of the team’s future longevity. Planchet has put in work to build the team from the ground up and explained, “I keep in close contact with Jen Pinney [Harvard Youth Lacrosse president]. We trade ideas and we try to connect our programs as much as possible. This spring a bunch of Harvard Youth Lacrosse girls went to Harvard University to watch Bromfield alum Sophia Turchetta, who plays for Dartmouth. They had a little meet-and-greet after the game. It was pretty cool to see that connection.”
At the end of the day, said Planchet, his hopes for the lacrosse team don’t end with the number of wins in the scorebook. “When I took the job, I told the previous athletic director, Pam Alexander, that I want to create an environment where the students had the time of their lives and look back upon their experience as extremely positive,” Planchet said. “There are lots of life lessons that players can take with them—confronting adversity, correlating hard work and determination with achieving goals, working as a team—but two of my favorites are building confidence and self-advocacy.”
Kate Selig is a Bromfield junior.
