McMullen’s final season a special one for SV lax
JACKSON TWP — Macy McMullen had a tendency to drive her head coach crazy, but Katie Smolter often approved of the end result.
McMullen closed her lacrosse career for Seneca Valley’s girls team this spring by scoring 57 goals, many of them coming, in Smolter’s words, “from incredible angles”.
“She’d always joke with me that, if it was any other player, she wouldn’t want those shots to be taken,” said McMullen. “A lot of them seemed impossible, but it was something I started working on when I was younger.
Her career varsity total was 106 goals tallied in just three seasons since her freshman season was canceled due to the pandemic.
“After not getting to play as a freshman, I’d go up to the fields with a friend to just shoot and pass and my stick skills improved a lot. I really started to notice it my junior year.”
“She had the ability to put a ball in the top corner on shots no one saw coming,” Smolter said. “She was our second-leading scorer her junior year behind Payton Riddle (Class of 2022) and led us this season. She was always an asset, a prominent player for us.
“The team counted on her to set things up.”
And McMullen did just that. Aside from putting the ball in the net herself, she had 53 assists.
“I love how you can form a connection with your teammates,” McMullen said of lacrosse. “You work with them and form that bond. I had it with Payton, then with Lorena Lopez this year.”
McMullen, a resident of Seven Fields, was a co-captain for the Raiders this spring along with midfielder/defender Anna Johnson.
“Captains are selected by their teammates,” Smolter said. “It comes from setting a good example and it’s an honor to be recognized like that.”
McMullen said she thought about playing lacrosse in college, especially during her junior year. Her involvement with the sport began in elementary school and seven years of playing for True Lacrosse, a club team, helped her improve her game.
“I was in contact with the University of Virginia-Wise, but decided to focus strictly on academics at Penn State,” she said.
With her playing career finished, McMullen takes with her fond memories of competition and camaraderie.
“We lost to Moon my junior year, then beat them this season,” she said. “Without Payton, we knew we had to give it our all. Being on the field with my friends, playing in big games, those are things I’ll always remember.”
