After engaging in two scrimmages during the first week of March, the girls of Penn Charter played their lacrosse season opener at home on March 10. The Quakers secured an 11-3 victory over Hill Academy from Ontario, which traveled down to play several teams in the Philadelphia area.

The Quakers themselves will be going down to Baltimore to play over their spring break.

PC is now embarking on its 10th season under head coach Colleen (Magarity) Kelly, and former longtime head coach Debbie White is back on the sidelines as the primary assistant.

Last spring, the Quakers finished with a 7-3 mark in the Inter-Ac League, which resulted in a third-place finish. Agnes Irwin and Episcopal Academy tied for first place, each with an 8-2 record. Irwin swept its regular-season series with Episcopal but suffered early losses to Penn Charter and the Academy of Notre Dame. Penn Charter lost both of its matches against Episcopal while splitting with Irwin.

In the Pa. Independent Schools tournament, PC was seeded third and enjoyed a first-round bye, then won a second-round game against Notre Dame, 16-6. The Quakers fell, 12-9, in the semifinal round to the Irwin Owls, who in turn were beaten in the championship game by Episcopal, 9-6.

PC lost a number of talented players with the Class of 2024. Heading the list was Aditi Foster, who was named the 2024 Inter-Ac League MVP and is now on the team at Northwestern University. In addition, Ava Egan is playing at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Ella Lewandowski at the University of Oregon, Nora Maione at Rutgers University, Toni Plunkett at Bucknell University, and Grace Walter at the College of William & Mary.

Plunkett was a reserve goalie for the Quakers last season, but the starter, Maeve Magarity, is back this year for her junior season. She and her classmates form the backbone of the team this year. Other 11th graders who started in the Hill Academy game were Ana Buckley, Harbor Campbell, Molly Dougherty, Aliyah Leonard, and Alice Summers.

There was only one starting senior, Kenighan Mattice, who will go on to play for Harvard University. The only other 12th-graders on the varsity roster are Delaney Duffy, Elissa Hsu, and Eva Walter.

A number of the juniors have already given verbal commitments to college programs. Dougherty will venture out to the University of Michigan, while Buckley and Magarity plan to head north to Dartmouth College and Boston College, respectively. Bound in the opposite direction will be Harbor Campbell, who has chosen Loyola University, and Leonard, who has pledged to Towson University.

The other starters in the Quakers' opener last week were sophomores Caroline Tullo and Cate Wall, and freshmen Sailor Campbell, Makenna Myers, and Nora Schmalbach. Among the other sophomores to watch are Laila Sharp, Katie Shoup, and Mia DiBenedetto, who is easing back into action coming off of an injury.

Sailor Campbell's twin sister, Sealeigh, is the third of the nautically named Campbells on the team and is a reserve goaltender. She made one save when she subbed into the opening game last week, while the starting keeper, Magarity, only needed to make two stops as Penn Charter controlled much of the play.

Harbor and Sailor Campbell each scored two goals, as did Buckley, Mattice, and Wall. The other goal came from Tullo, who recorded three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Myers, one of the freshmen, finished with 10 draw controls.

The Quakers will begin Inter-Ac League competition this week, and they're diving right into the deep end with a match at Episcopal on Wednesday afternoon.