Coyle pulls through injury, headed to Georgian Court

BRICK TOWNSHIP — A torn anterior cruciate ligament can dampen the spirits of both athletes and college recruiters.

But Georgian Court University women's lacrosse coach Mike Migliorisi never changed his offer to Brick Memorial High School star Corinne Coyle. And that assurance inspired her to a school record-setting senior year.

"It made me want to come back and play so much better," Coyle said. "I wanted it so bad."

And both player and college coach are glad they continued moving forward. Coyle scored 71 goals and had 26 assists for her senior season. She surpassed the century mark in career goals with 108, and her play helped the Mustangs to a fine 9-9 season and its firstever trip to the NJSIAA Tournament.

"She had a huge season for us," Brick Memorial coach Courtney Richardson said. "She tore her ACL midway through her junior season, and it was a huge loss. She's been our captain the past two seasons. And now she is going to Georgian Court, where she is close to home and I get the chance to go to some games to see her play."

Coyle said the hardest part of her injury was the physical therapy three times a week for many months.

"I thought it [college career] would be over, but he wanted me to play," Coyle said. "It all made me so much better."

Coyle will join Brick athletes Daryl Carr and Amy Ramsthaler on a steadily rising Georgian Court team that reached the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference tournament championship game in its first year in the conference.

Richardson, who played lacrosse at MonmouthUniversity, said a torn ACL "is a tough injury to come back from."

"You need strong determination," she said. "But they recruited her even after her injury because they knew she could play in college and she was determined to come back. She was stronger than before and in better shape. I knew she'd come back in some sense."

Richardson pointed out Coyle's assists, including a state tournament loss to Freehold Township in which Coyle scored two goals and had three assists, one time passing up a scoring opportunity to feed a teammate for a goal.

"That's where she excelled — seeing the whole field and being very confident that if she wasn't getting a goal, she'd pass off. She's very unselfish," Richardson said.

Oddly, Coyle was not selected for the Shore All-Star game. But she's glad she took the long, hard road back to recovery.

"I'm definitely glad I did it," Coyle said. "And if I didn't do it the right way, I could get hurt again."

Coyle said she was told she'll play in midfield in college.

"I'll play wherever he wants," Coyle said.

"One of Coyle's assets is her ability to use both hands on the ball," Richardson said. "She does a good job of switching. A lot of high school girls are intimidated about dropping the ball."

But Coyle isn't the only player heading to college. Captain and midfielder Brianne Toomey also is headed to an NCAA Division II college, East Stroudsburg University, which was 7-10 this spring.

"She did phenomenal," Richardson said. "She realized this is her senior year and valued every chance she got. With her skill and determination, we couldn't take her out. She really excelled as a leader and as a player."

Those two players are major losses to fill in the lineup, along with defensive midfielder Alex Montalto, a captain who Richardson said was "one of our best defenders and the hardest worker on the team," and low defenseman Monica Smetts. Smetts switched from softball to lacrosse last spring and became an instant starter.

"It's her knowledge of the game and her help on defense," Richardson said.

But there are many players coming back, including freshman Jessica Rosa, who had 40 goals and 16 assists, and good prospects from the 7-8-1 junior varsity team. Rosa's dad and staunchest critic, Dan Rosa, who coaches Brick Township High School's boys team, said he is "very impressed" with his daughter but also said he can quickly point out her flaws.

Jessica plays on the T3 elite club team that participated in a showcase last weekend in Downingtown, Pa., that included a 10-10 tie with a team from Maryland and a 15-3 victory over a team from North Carolina on Saturday before heavy rains on Sunday knocked out the other two scheduled games. The team plays in Germantown, Pa., this weekend.

Junior Lydia Stanislawski highlighted her season in goal with a 12-9 victory over Jackson Memorial High School the second time the Mustangs played them. Heather Jensen, a junior attacker, is a natural lefthander with a strong shot.

"We had a tough time at the beginning of the year playing as a team," Richardson said. "We made adjustments and that solved the problem, and the way they came together as a team after that was great."

Stephanie Sokol, a junior who played in the midfield and on the attack, was part of that changeover. She had her best games later in the season. Other players Richardson feels she will be able to turn to are sophomore Kaitlyn Sanford, who played midfield and attack, and freshmen Francesca Boilton on defense and Caitlin Korber, who played many positions.