FAIRFAX, Va. – More freshmen roamed the field this season than Jessy Morgan expected.
And she loved it.
George Mason's second-year lacrosse coach was pleasantly surprised by the production of her four freshmen – Elizabeth Benedetto, Chachi Kelehan, Lydia Montanino and Rachel Woods. All four played key roles, from Kelehan up front at attack all the way back to Benedetto in goal, as the Patriots recently closed the 2016 campaign.
Benedetto, Kelehan and Woods dug their places in the starting lineup. And, on paper, Montanino only started one game, but she served in a default starter's role, running on the field moments after the opening draw to play the crucial X position on attack behind the goal.
Different paths brought each of the four to this point, but all offered big contributions in helping the Patriots during a historic campaign in which they tied a school record for wins (12), set a conference record for wins (seven) and earned the No. 2 seed in the A-10 tournament.
“I hope this tells the world that this program plays the best players,” Morgan said. “We are not waiting for people to develop. If you can produce you will play here. Having girls that can impact the game right away means they're going to be impact players for us next year. I'm surprised but it is a happy surprise.”
Elizabeth Benedetto
Elizabeth Benedetto started her lacrosse career firing off shots, not thwarting off opponents' best attempts.
The Fairfax native played on attack before moving to the cage in fourth grade. That's when her Annandale Youth team suddenly had a void in goal during a game after their previous goalkeeper quit.
“I was the same exact size as her so they were like, 'Oh, Lizzy, here you go. Throw on gear. Go in there,'” Benedetto said. “Ever since then I have been a goalie. It was a little scary. But, I don't know, I'm kind of like a thrill seeker. It was a great feeling. When you stop that ball, you have a rush of adrenaline and you can do whatever. You're so much more capable of everything when you're on that high.”
That fearless attitude certainly helped Benedetto in her first collegiate season.
She made her debut with nine saves in a 12-5 victory over Fresno State on March 11 and didn't look back. She started 12 games and compiled an impressive 9-3 record. She had 95 saves and posted a stifling goals against average (GAA) of 7.84 for the lowest percentage in a single season in program history. She was named to the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Rookie Team after twice being named Rookie Player of the Week during the season.
The 5-foot-9 graduate of nearby Woodson High School allowed five goals or fewer on four occasions. She also made 11 or more saves three times, including a career-high 12 in a win against George Washington.
“It has kind of been like a rush,” Benedetto said. “Honestly, I wouldn't be where I was without the coaches and the team… I have that goldfish memory (in goal) where something happens and you immediately forget it. As soon as I step on the field for that opening whistle, all my worries and fears go away. I have to be focused on the game.”
Morgan saw something click in her freshman goalie midway through the season. Benedetto didn't begin the season as the team's starting goalkeeper. Sophomore Mackenzie Duffy started five of the team's six first games, getting the nod in part to her previous collegiate experience. She played in 16 games in 2016 as a freshman at Robert Morris.
In March, Duffy's mother, Nancy's two-year bout with cancer worsened. Duffy flew home to Rhode Island a couple times during the season to be with her mother, who died on Easter Sunday. The team rallied around Duffy, offering their support by wearing pink ribbons and writing her mom's initials “ND” on their gear.
On the field, Benedetto, as the team's only other goalkeeper, took charge in the cage, knowing she had to step up.
“I'm sure (Benedetto) just needed the push,” Morgan said. “Sometimes when you have no choice, it's 'I have to perform. I have to do it.' When you have no choice you are not even worried about the pressure. For a freshman goalie, she is playing at a very high level. She has been able to keep us in games. She rose to the occasion. She stepped up so hard core.”
Chachi Kelehan
It didn't take Chachi Kelehan long to realize the stakes had been raised.
“It is a whole different level in college,” Kelehan said. “In high school, you can just run by people. In college, you get messed up sometimes.”
And that was before the regular season started.
She got her first taste of the speed and intensity of the college game during the fall ball season. Playing with her new teammates and scrimmaging against other teams gave her a glimpse of what to expect when the regular season started the next semester.
“I think the fall mentally prepared me,” she said. “It just made me stronger mentally because it was very, very challenging. To get through it, and to be there with my teammates, that gave us some great team chemistry.”
The hard work in the fall definitely aided Kelehan by the time the spring rolled around.
She was one of the team's brightest spots on offense and was named to the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Rookie Team. The 5-foot-7 attacker ranked second on the team in points (47), third in goals (34) and fifth in assists (13). She played in all 17 games, starting all but one, and scored in every game. She was twice named A-10 Rookie of the Week.
She had eight multi-goal games and twice scored five goals. She also distributed the ball, with three assists against Longwood and a career-high four at St. Bonaventure.
Kelehan hails from Ellicott City, Md., and, living in a lacrosse hotbed, she has played the sport since she was five years old. She played lacrosse, along with soccer and field hockey, at Mount Hebron High School. There, she played for current Mason assistant coach Greg Danto, who was the offensive strategist and scouting analyst at Mount Hebron.
She said her connection to Danto and the chance to play for Morgan made Mason intriguing.
“She has probably one of the best coaches I've ever had,” Kelehan said. “She cares so much. I know she cares about me. Sometimes it may seem like, 'Oh, man, she is yelling at me.' But I know it is just because she is just trying to make the team better. She sees we all have potential.”
Her freshman year hasn't been without growing pains, though.
She admits she battled nerves in a loss to Georgetown. Though she had a goal and an assist she also had four turnovers.
“I felt like I was forcing the ball,” she said. “I wasn't letting the game come to me.”
But that game served as a learning moment.
She heeded advice from Morgan about opportunity costs – when to take risks with shots and when not to. She also turned to upperclassmen, such as Brooke Lorber and Alexa McGovern, as steadying presences.
“I've always looked up to my older attackers,” she said. “But now I always look to Brooke to keep me feeling stable and keep that comfort. I look up to Lex and Brooke a lot. I wish I could run through people like Lex and have that calmness that Brooke has on the field.”
Her continual progress was evident throughout the season.
She rose to the challenge against the conference's toughest team, seven-time defending champ Massachusetts. On April 8, against then No. 19 UMass, which is headed to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament this weekend, she scored four goals and had an assist in a narrow 13-9 loss.
“She is a dynamic attacker that has a great shot,” Morgan said. “We're going to add a few elements to her game over the next few years but she is an all-star for us.”
Lydia Montanino
When the Patriots convened last August for the start of the fall season, Lydia Montanino wasn't on the team.
She wasn't even on campus.
A native of nearby Oakton, Va., Montanio had started her college career out of state. But after just one semester at Winthrop University in South Carolina, she decided it wasn't the right fit. She reached out to her coaches at Oakton High, who connected her with Morgan and the Mason coaching staff.
She arrived in January in time for the spring semester, just a month before the season opener.
“I really didn't expect to be getting playing time. I was just coming in hoping I would be able to fit in with the team,” Montanino said. “It is hard being a transfer and everything but I'm really happy with where I am right now. I had heard a lot of positive things about Jessy and I was real interested in having Jessy as a coach. It was definitely tough in the beginning. But the team is so welcoming. I always felt like I had a spot on the team.”
The 5-foot-4 attacker earned her spot.
With a strong work ethic and conditioning, Montanino quickly impressed Morgan and the coaching staff. She made her debut on March 11 against Fresno State, scoring her first goal and recording her first assist. She played in every game after.
“I think she has done a lot of work on herself behind the scenes,” Morgan said. “She has great hands. She probably has some of the most dynamic skills, stick-work skills on the team. She is doing it very well.”
At the X position, Montanino serves as a point guard of sorts. Setting up behind the goal, she sees the entire offense and can exploit the weaknesses of the opposing defense. She looks to serve, often feeding her teammates with passes.
She kept the mistakes at a minimum, turning the ball over just 10 times in 15 games. She dished out 15 assists, including a career-high against George Washington, and totaled 18 points.
“It is all about not turning the ball over – period,” Morgan said of the X position. “You get back there and don't turn the ball over. Points are a bonus. If your point guard is scoring, bonus. Great. Cherry on top. But assisting, distributing the ball, she is doing that.”
While Montanino arrived in January as the new kid on the block, she has not been alone in adjusting to the growing pains that come with playing college lacrosse. Benedetto, Kelehan, Montanino and Woods have all leaned on each other for support.
“I think it makes us a lot closer,” Montanino said. “We all play and we all go through the same things basically. We all have bad days and we all have good days. So we can always help each other out with that.”
Rachel Woods
After Morgan put Rachel Woods on the field, she found it hard to take her off.
Three games into the season, Morgan gave Woods her first collegiate experience when she subbed her freshman defender into a win against Fresno State on March 11.
That was just the start.
A strong defender with good speed, Woods saw her minutes increase. She was back on the field for each of the last three non-conference games, making her first start against Mount St. Mary's. By the second weekend of A-10 play, she was a regular in the starting lineup.
“She was a pretty solid kid with good speed and then she just got an opportunity to play,” Morgan said. “And she just did so well that from then on she started. I don't think she even she thought she was going to play. She has been a really great surprise.”
Woods agreed with her coach that she exceeded her own expectations. In fact, her goals before the season were “to play as much as I could, work hard and see where it got me.”
A three-sport athlete (lacrosse, field hockey and track) at Longmeadow High School in Massachusetts, Woods' versatility was on display during her first season.
The 5-foot-6 defender played in 14 games and started 10 of her last 11. She ranked third on the team with 23 ground balls, including back-to-back games of a career-high four ground balls in wins against Davidson and La Salle. She also caused nine turnovers.
“I think she has been a really resilient player,” Morgan said. “We've had some tough games. She has had some pretty tough matchups on some big players. To come in and be able to play at a pretty high level right away just shows you how hard she has been working from the fall to the winter break. She took advantage of that time and really improved.”
Similar to her classmates, she said the speed of the game took some time to adjust to. On defense, with so much happening, she must keep her “head on a swivel.”
“A lot of times I feel like I'm caught a second too late,” Woods said. “Like Coach Jessy said, the game will slow down as I get older. It is just something to get used to… My teammates definitely helped. You come in and the juniors and seniors are pretty much experts at it at this point. You come into it like scared, little freshmen but they have your back. Erin (Anderson) and Kelli (Beard helped) because they are captains, but they were two people that took the freshmen under their wing the first few weeks.”
Cohesion and comradery boosted the Patriots on their way to a historic 12 wins. And a freshman class that combined to play in 59 games and make 39 starts played a pivotal part in that success.
The chance to play right away gives hope to future Patriots and bodes well for a program on the rise.
“I think everybody is seen as equal,” Woods said. “It is a reassuring thing that you know your coach is going to put forth the best effort to win. I think everybody knows that.”
