By Bob York
Opposing coaches of the Deerfield Academy girls lacrosse team can finally exhale—the Dewey twins are gone.
For those poor coaches, who had to mentally endure what their goalies were going through physically to keep Hallie and Charlotte Dewey off the scoreboard, the last three years must have seemed like an eternity. Hallie is now off to Princeton, where she will concentrate on squash, while Charlotte will attend Middlebury and split her time between lacrosse and squash.
Over the past three seasons, the Deweys combined for 258 points. Hallie rang up 146 of them on 114 goals and 32 assists, while Charlotte collected 112 points on 82 goals and 30 assists. During their senior campaign, Hallie led the team in scoring for the third straight year with 50 points on 40 goals and 10 assists. Charlotte was second with 35 points by scoring 30 goals and setting up five others.
“They’re a pair of very talented athletes … we’re very fortunate to have had them playing together here at Deerfield for the past three years,” said coach Allison DiNardo. “And needless to say, it’s going to be very difficult to make up for the scoring punch they have given us.
“But we’re going to miss much more than their scoring ability,” added DiNardo. “We’ll also miss the aggressive way they played the game, and we’re going to miss their outstanding leadership qualities as well.”
Hallie concluded her career with the Big Green by earning All-American honors for the second year in a row. This spring, she was one of four U.S. All-Americans and one of just two Academic All-Americans to represent the Western Massachusetts chapter. She also earned a berth on the Western New England All-Star Team for the second year in a row.
And when it came time for the school athletic banquet, the twins cleaned house there as well. Hallie was the recipient on the Benjamin C. Haviland Memorial Trophy, while Charlotte was presented the Deerfield Lacrosse Coaches Award. It was also announced during the festivities that Julie Wardwell ’12 and Lili Gahagan ’12 were elected co-captains for next year’s team.
Overall, Deerfield finished its season at 6-9, as it dropped a pair of one-goal games to Choate (16-15) and to Hotchkiss (11-10), “and that was a big game for us,” explained DiNardo. “Hotchkiss was the top-rated team in the league and I feel we came up with our best overall team performance of the entire season to keep the game to a one-goal margin.” The Big Green scored with 41 seconds remaining in the game, but wasn’t able to locate the equalizer. It also dropped a two-goal game to Northfield Mount Hermon and lost by three to Taft. That’s four losses by a combined seven goals.
While its toughest loss this season was a one-goal game, so too, was its biggest win—a 14-13 double overtime victory over perennial powerhouse Greenwich Academy on a goal by Hallie Dewey, with an assist going to Olivia Koufakis ’11.
“They’re always one of the toughest teams we play all season,” said DiNardo, “so it’s always especially nice to beat them, but when you do it in double overtime, it makes it even nicer.”
Other key contributors this season were Phoebe Burr ’11, who finished third on the scoring charts with 27 points on 22 goals and five assists, while Kate Anderson ’12, Caroline Ashford ’14, Mettler Growney ’13, and Katlyn Casey ’11 all chipped in.
Bob York is a Greenfield Recorder wire editor. His email address is byork@recorder.com.