Caroline Ling has been spending the spring and early summer time of 2023 sporting a lot of totally different jersey colours. There’s the blue and white of her highschool, Springboro (Ohio), for whom she scored 167 targets this previous season, making her your nationwide scholastic scoring champion for 2023.
She’s additionally worn the blue and white of Lengthy Island Legacy for her membership ball, and the navy and gold of the Midwest Spotlight staff of the New Steadiness All-America Lacrosse Match.
And all whereas utilizing a follow scarlet lacrosse strings.
The strings are a shout-out to Rutgers College, to whom Ling has given her verbal dedication for lacrosse come the autumn of 2024. In an odd twist, Ling is the second nationwide scoring champion from the 2022-2023 educational 12 months who’s taking her skills to Rutgers, the opposite being area hockey prime scorer Olivia Fraticelli.
While you watch Ling play in summer time ball, you’ll be able to perceive what has made her into the participant she is at this time. She takes attracts — and wins them with out having to depend on a draw stick. She canters into the assault effortlessly, and makes path checks within the defensive midfield.
On assault for Springboro this previous spring, she was unstoppable. Six occasions this previous spring, she scored 10 targets in a recreation, culminating in a 14-goal effort in opposition to Dublin Jerome (Ohio). It was one of many prime 10 finest single-game performances of all time. And her 167 targets in 2023 is the sixth-best single-season complete in recorded Federation historical past.
“I wasn’t apprehensive about scoring plenty of targets,” Ling says. “I used to be simply attempting to take it recreation by recreation, and do as a lot as I needed to for my staff. What was very nice is that others stepped up after we actually wanted, I needed to step up after I needed to as effectively.”
Within the previous days of lacrosse, earlier than restraining traces, she would have performed a real middle place. Her enjoying type and her directness is a throwback to a participant like Selena Lasota, the previous Northwestern luminary who got here out of the field lacrosse rinks of Canada.
Now, one may argue that the scarlet strings are additionally a shoutout to Canada. As a result of her father, Jamie, was born in Canada, Caroline Ling has been invited to check out for the Canadian aspect which can contest the World Lacrosse U-20 Girls’s World Championship subsequent August in Hong Kong.
“That’s Step 1, and hopefully I can play for the nationwide staff,” Ling says. “I additionally hope to win a nationwide championship sometime.”
Ling’s scoring championship additionally comes amongst a lot of memorable performances in 2023 by members of the category of 2024. Except for Ling, Vanni Intini, a 158-goal scorer from Fayetteville (N.C.) Academy, can be a junior. The scholastic Class of 2024 is the primary cohort after the COVID-19 pandemic to need to not have misplaced a whole varsity ladies’ lacrosse season.
“My sister (Katie, now at Niagara College) and I might practice 4, 5 hours; I might simply exit within the yard and shoot on her,” Caroline Ling says. “I really feel that gave us a leg up as a result of everybody else was lacking their high-school seasons.”
Ling joins a listing of lacrosse scoring champions from seasons previous:
2023: Caroline Ling, Springboro (Ohio), 167
2022: Fran Frieri, Lockport (In poor health.) Township, 200
2021: Fran Frieri, Lockport (In poor health.) Township, 191
2020: No award due to international pandemic
2019: Brittany Sherrod, Versailles Woodford County (Ky.) 158
2018: Charlie Rudy, Novato (Calif.), 147
2017: Charlie Rudy, Novato (Calif.), 160
2016: Bridget Ruskey, Cape Could Courthouse Center Township (N.J.), 135
2015: Sophia Turchetta, Harvard Bromfield (Mass.), 158
2014: Sophia Turchetta, Harvard Bromfield (Mass.), 170
2013: Daniela McMahon, Saddle River Nation Day College (N.J.), 143
2012: Emma Lazaroff, Lafayette Centaurus (Colo.), 143
2011: Alex Moore, Allentown (N.J.), 148
2010: Autumn MacMillin, Tecumseh (Mich.), 157
2009: Katie Ferris, Carthage (N.Y.), 138
2008: Courtney Miller, Chappaqua Horace Greeley (N.Y.) 125
2007: Mallori Selliger, Clarkstown (N.Y.) North, 88
2006: Shannon Smith, West Babylon (N.Y.) 129
