by Tom Utescher

The girls varsity lacrosse program at Penn Charter has undergone some major changes, both on the field and on the sidelines. Colleen Magarity, a former multi-sport standout at Germantown Academy (’07), has become the fourth head coach for the Quakers in four seasons.

She excelled in lacrosse at the collegiate level and played for the U.S. in international competition, and with ties to a club lacrosse organization based at Penn Charter, she is expected to have a much longer tenure than her immediate predecessors.

While at Germantown Academy, Magarity not only starred in lacrosse, but was also was a member of four Inter-Ac League champion basketball teams. For many years, she played on the same AAU club team as WNBA star Elena Delle Donne and UConn’s Caroline Doty.

A few months after she graduated (2007) she played for the U.S. Team at the Under-19 World Championships in Canada. She then moved on to Northwestern University, helping the Wildcats win the NCAA national championship in three out of her four seasons.

She worked briefly in Chicago after graduating from Northwestern in 2011, then began a three-year stint as assistant women’s lacrosse coach at the University of Colorado. Returning back East, she was tabbed by 2001 PC grad Bill McKinney to help pioneer a girls program as an extension of his successful Big 4 HHH lacrosse club for boys.

She was hired by Penn Charter as the school’s new head lacrosse coach, and also as a varsity assistant in basketball.

Adjusting to running a high school program after several years in the college ranks, she observed, “Obviously, the expectations in college are very high and things are run differently. It’s a lot more structured and detailed than a high school program, and there’s a support staff to handle a lot of the day-to-day things, just like having the balls waiting for you on the field when you come out to practice.”

In terms of the game itself, she said, “I’ve learned that one element that runs through everything in lacrosse is stickwork. The fundamentals of catching and throwing can’t be taken for granted at any level. When we had those championship teams at Northwestern, a lot of people assumed that we were always doing very intricate, complicated drills in practice, when we actually put in a lot of time on the basics. If you’re really solid there, you can go far.”

With Big 4 HHH, Magarity enjoys being part of organization that includes a strong boys’ program.

“I try to take a lot of the guys’ game into the girls’ game,” she explained. “The variety in their shooting, and also the running of different lines in the midfield, which I’d like to do with Penn Charter when we develop the depth to do it.”

When she first met her players, she related, “I was up-front with the kids and I told them right away we’re going to work hard and we’re going to run a lot. I’ve got a great group of kids. They seem excited to have me here and to know that I’m invested in being here and developing the program.”

The Quakers are heading into the 2016 campaign without 11 players from last season’s varsity roster. Charter graduated eight seniors, including University of Virginia recruit Avery Shoemaker, and three of last year’s juniors did not come out for the team this spring.

From the basketball season, Coach Magarity already got to know one of her lacrosse seniors. High-scoring point guard Hannah Fox will go on to play hoops at Amherst College. The other two seniors are seasoned varsity sticksters, Meredith Chernak and Sarah Fleming.

Chernak’s sister Winter was a lacrosse team captain at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (’14), and Fleming’s two older sisters both played at PC.

“They’re good leaders for the girls,” Magarity noted. “They’re very positive, which is huge for me because that attitude is contagious. I feel that they’re buying into what I want to do with the team, and the other girls will follow them.”

Although Charter graduated a seasoned goalie last spring, current junior Jamillah Buie has already seen a lot of time in varsity games. Her back-up will be Hayley Hunt, one of two eighth-graders on the varsity squad. The other is Mackenzie McDonough, whose father, Pat, is the longtime head coach of the Penn Charter boys’ lacrosse team.

Buie’s fellow juniors, Courtney Cubbin, Perri Keehfuss, and Macaul Mellor, were all key varsity players in 2015. Sophomore Alexis Joseph has already made a verbal commitment to play for Duke University, and her classmates on the PC squad are Laura Blieler, Greer Guyer, Catherine McInerney, Amiah Taliaferro, and Taylor Wheeler-Yard.

Magarity has tabbed four freshmen for the varsity roster: Hannah Kuper, Annika Murray, Molly Visco, and Emma Wilson.

“I think we’ve got a very athletic team, with good speed,” Magarity assessed. “I think it’s a hardworking group, with the grit to go hard after ground balls and to get draw controls.”

After several informal scrimmages, Penn Charter took on Friends Schools League defending champion Friends Central. Even with Fox temporarily sidelined with a minor injury, the Quakers accelerated to an 11-3 lead late in the first half and went on to win, 16-6.

On Magarity’s coaching staff, a sense of continuity is provided by former Franklin & Marshall player Erin Dunne, who was a Quakers assistant last year. Blake McHugh, a former player for Northwestern (’15) and Episcopal Academy, is familiar with both top-flight college competition and with Inter-Ac League lacrosse. Abington High School alum Alicia Aquilino, who played goalie for St. Joseph’s University (’13), will work with the PC keepers.

The coaches for the JV are Amber Gooden, also a member of the basketball staff at the school, and Magarity’s father, Joe.

“They both know basketball very well, and there’s a lot of that in lacrosse, especially with the zones and the set offenses,” PC’s new skipper pointed out. “My father’s been watching me play lacrosse for so many years that he’s learned about that, too.”

There was a celebrity sighting among the crowd of spectators at Tuesday’s Friends Central match. Sarah Fleming’s older sister Julia was wielding a lacrosse stick for Penn Charter as a senior in 2014. After spending a year at Ursinus College, she left to successfully pursue a career as an international high-fashion model. Scheduled to fly to Milan in a few days, Julia turned out last week to support her sister and her old school.