By David Fierro
Greenwich Academy’s Varsity A lacrosse team captured the FAA Tournament title in 2024 after not competing in the league the previous several seasons and it’s 2025 season against FAA competition certainly began in promising fashion.
The Gators hosted neighborhood opponent Greenwich Country Day School in their home-opener on April 11 and used a tenacious, inspired effort on both ends of the field to earn an impressive double-digit victory.
With Katie Barr, Ruby Montanez and Leighton Collier sparking the offense and Lila Volpe and goalie Persia Shipman pacing the defense, Greenwich Academy recorded a 13-4 win over visiting Greenwich Country Day School in an early season FAA matchup. The win improved GA’s record to 2-1, which it improved to 3-1 with a decisive 13-3 triumph against School of the Holy Child on April 12. So, the Gators, who host Westminster School today (April 14) at 4:45 p.m., are 3-0 in FAA play.
Barr, Montanez and Volpe are Greenwich Academy’s experienced senior captains.
“We were so hyped and so into it and when we all have the energy together, we can really pull it together and it’s really fun,” Montanez said of the Gators’ victory against Greenwich Country Day.
The Tigers of Greenwich Country Day began its season with a tough two-goal loss to a strong Taft School team and was victorious against FAA foe School of the Holy Child – a team that’s given them problems in the past.
Beginning her first season as head coach of Greenwich Academy’s Varsity A squad is Tee Ladouceur, who is assisted by Katherine Schulze. Ladouceur arrived at GA from Dartmouth College, where she served as an
associate head coach and offensive Coordinator. Before her tenure at Dartmouth, she was an assistant coach at the University of Denver, head coach at UC Davis, and an assistant at the University of Albany. Ladouceur played lacrosse at Syracuse University. She replaces Hallie Quillinan Griggs, who was at the helm at Greenwich Academy since 2021.
“The community has been awesome, the girls have worked hard, I know Hallie left it in a good spot for me,” Ladouceur said. “Hallie is a longtime friend of mine, so I’m excited to be here.”
In Greenwich Academy’s win against Greenwich Country Day, the hosts seized an early 3-0 lead, then took a four-goal advantage when Barr scored with 3:11 remaining in the first quarter. Another goal by Barr with 10:55 left in the second period put GA on top, 5-0. GA exhibited stellar passing, ball movement and patience throughout the FAA matchup.
“Before the game we talked to having more motion, not always looking for the first drive to be the goal,” said Barr, an attack, who will continue her lacrosse career at Dartmouth. “Off the first drive, we were passing, getting it through X and that worked well, along with the off the ball movement.”
Collier tallied at the 7:53 mark of the second quarter, then after Collier won the ensuing draw, Barr scored off a dodge 1:02 later, making it 7-0 in favor of the Gators. Montanez scored late in the second stanza, as the home team bolted out to a 9-0 advantage.
“Our motion offense was working really well, we were flowing with it and everyone shot,” said Montanez, who will play lacrosse at the University of California, Davis. “It was awesome.”
Greenwich Country Day’s goal in the opening half came from the stick of Caroline Cabrera. A junior, Cabrera scored off an 8-meter shot for the Tigers, who trailed 9-1 at halftime. Cabrera, senior attack Ella Wilner, senior defender Ryan Cassin and junior defender Bianca Amen each serve as captains for Greenwich Country Day’s varsity squad.
“I think we have a very strong team this season, we have players that contribute everywhere,” said Cabrera, who has committed to the College of the Holy Cross. ” Everyone cares, you can see that people want to be there. We can have people on both ends of the field who can be firing on all cylinders.”
Sophomore Delaney Enright added a second half goal for GA, which continued its strong play throughout the field in the third and fourth quarters of action. Wilner and Cabrera each had second half tallies for GCDS.
The Gators responded well from an 11-3 season-opening loss to Ridgefield, winning two straight games.
“Coming off a tough loss to Ridgefield, we came out here wanting to have fun, wanted to play hard and we wanted it more,” said Collier, a transfer from Greenwich High School, where she competed the past two seasons. “We are always rooting for each other, supporting each other and I think today, we capitalized on all that. “
Volpe, senior Lila Cabot, junior Quinn Reese and sophomore Niamh Cooney were among some of the defenders who helped support goalie Shipman. Following the game, Volpe discussed how grateful she was to be one of GA’s captains.
“It’s great, I’ve been on the team since freshman year, I’ve always wanted to be looking out for the girls, I’ve always wanted to be a captain,” Volpe noted. “I feel like this is a great team and I’m honored to have been elected to be a captain.”
Collier and freshman midfielder Maddie Lane took a lot of the draws for Greenwich Academy, which continues its busy schedule this week.
“It’s quite a busy stretch,” said Ladouceur, whose GA squad hosts Westminster today (April 14), then is home again against Greens Farms Academy tomorrow (April 15), before hosting Simsbury April 17. “They are eager to learn, they have high expectations for themselves, so it’s nice for a coach to be able to help them along, help them grow and achieve their goals.”
Greenwich Country Day visits Hopkins School today, then has home games against FAA opponents St. Luke’s School (April 15) and Hamden Hall Country Day School (April 17).
“We would have loved to have a better showing here, but it’s a long season, so hopefully, we’ll see them again,” GCDS coach Caitlin Copelan said. “We’re young, we only have two seniors this year. We’ve played good competition; we took Taft to a two-goal game. Then, we finally beat Holy Child in overtime – we haven’t beaten them in four years. I feel like this year especially, we are really close and the team is having a good time.”
Cabrera emphasized the significance of competing in a strong league such as the FAA.
“It’s always a real competitive league, it’s a great league,” Cabrera said. “It allows us to go out on the field every day with a purpose and it really challenges us to show who we want to be and who we are as GCDS.”
