Westchester/Putnam girls lacrosse all-stars: Rye's Lilly Whaling is Player of the Year

Westchester/Putnam Player of the Year

Lilly Whaling

School: Rye

Year: Senior

Position: Attacker

Highlights: Lilly Whaling is now an 18-year-old, two-time high school girls lacrosse All-American. But she can easily recall her earliest days in lacrosse, holding a stick when she was about 5. Did she have a choice? Could that stick have been a bat or racquet? Well, technically, yes. But not according to her DNA. Whaling's dad, Mark, played football and lacrosse for Princeton and her mom, Carolyn, was a University of Virginia lacrosse player. Whaling, one of three children, happens to also be one of the three Whaling children who play lacrosse. Her brother, Caden, just finished his sophomore season on the University of North Carolina men's team and her sister, Beau, just finished her sophomore year playing with Lilly on their Section 1 Class C champion and state Class C runner-up Rye High team. A big reason Rye got that far was Lilly Whaling, The Journal News/lohud Westchester/Putnam Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year, who had 72 goals and 19 assists on the season.

But Whaling doesn't point to her goals and assists when explaining her team's success. Rather, Whaling said, "One-hundred percent, it was the commitment from seniors down to freshmen. It was how much everyone cared." And everyone believed. In the Section 1 Class C title game, top-seed Nyack took a 2-0 lead. Rye, Whaling indicated, was unfazed. "I don't think anyone thought we were going to lose," she said.

Whaling, who considers playing with her sister a highlight of high school lacrosse, points to a clarifying moment for her occurring her freshman year. Assistant coach Theresa Jelalian stopped Whalen and others when hearing them complain about something in practice. She told them she'd cut off a limb to be able to play high school sports again. In other words, they were lucky and should cherish their time.

Whaling did just that and now she'll have more time to play the game she loves. While a talented field hockey player, Whalen, who played club lacrosse with the Predators, focused only on playing lacrosse in college. She grabbed the first offer she received, which certainly wasn't a bad one. She'll play next year for Division I Cornell, where she plans to major in communications.

"Lacrosse has always been my sport, always my dream. It doesn't feel like playing a sport. It's just having fun," Whaling said.

Coach of the Year

Michelle Mason, Rye: Mason, whose team reached the state Class C championship game, edges two other strong candidates in Bronxville's Gianna Maffei and Greeley's Maggie Sharp, who got their Class D and Class B teams to the state semifinals — Sharp's come-back kids nearly joining Rye in the B final. But Mason's team also did what many thought impossible in beating Nyack for the Section 1 Class C championship after Nyack had gone undefeated in Section 1 play during the regular season. The fact Rye, which earlier lost to Nyack, ultimately won by one goal after not losing a step afer falling behind by a pair, illustrated Mason's skills as a coach beyond X's and O'ss.

The rest of the first team

Molly Fink

School: Somers

Year: Senior

Position : Attacker

Highlights : A two-time Academic All-American, Fink had 51 goals and 25 assists, beat opponents to 91 balls off the draw and another 22 ground balls and forced them into nine turnovers. She'll play for Division I Holy Cross next year.

Bae Bounds

School: Horace Greeley

Year: Senior

Position: Midfielder

Highlights: The All-American, who'll play next year for Division I Brown University, was part of a lethal one-two punch with junior Rowan Edson that took Greeley to within a goal of making the state Class B final. Always clutch and gifted with strong field sense and speed, she put in 75 goals, had 15 assists and won the race to secure 102 balls off the draw and another 49 loose ground balls.

Anasatasia Byrnes

School: Byram Hills

Year: Senior

Position: Midfielder

Highlights: Byrnes, who'll play next year for Division I American University, was a prolific scorer for the Bobcats thoughout her career. She surpassed 300 goals for her varsity career. The Academic All-American had 69 goals and 19 assists and beat opponents to 149 balls off the draw this season, scoring five of those goals, getting two of those assists and getting 13 of those balls off the draw in her final Bobcat game.

Jojo Degl

School: John Jay-Cross River

Year: Junior

Position: Midfielder

Highlights : A huge part of the Wolf offense, the All-American netted 49 goals and had 14 assists. Her speed and field sense also helped her secure 83 balls off the draw. She's committed to play at Division I James Madison University.

Caroline Doyle

School: Rye

Year : Junior

Position: Midfielder

Highlights: An Academic All-American, the Division I Duke commit had 40 goals and seven assists and won the race to 40 goals off the draw and another 13 other loose balls for the Section 1 Class C Garnets, who advanced all the way to the Class C state championship game.

Rowan Edson

School: Horace Greeley

Year : Junior

Position: Midfielder

Highlights: That Academic All-American, who's committed to play for the Division I University of Colorado, isn't very tall, but she is certainly long on talent. Remarkably quick and with superb field vision, Edson scored 70 goals, had 18 assists and beat opponents to 80 balls off the draw and to another 49 loose ground balls.

Sydney Ingraham

School: Somers

Year : Junior

Position: Midfielder

Highlights: The Academic-All-American, who's committed to play for Division I Notre Dame, poured in 61 goals, had 13 assists, beat opponents to 96 balls off the draw and got another 29 ground balls. She's also a tenacious defender, who forced 37 turnovers.

Mary Sack

School: Rye

Year: Junior

Position: Midfielder

Highlights: The Division I-Penn commit went from all-section honorable mention to All-American in a single season and was a key reason the Garnets made it to the state Class C championship game. She beat opponents to 46 balls off the draw, scored 45 goals, including two goals and one of her 11 season assists in Rye's 10-9 upset win over Nyack for the Section 1 crown. Sack also scored three times in the Garnet's 9-5 state-championship loss to Sayville, Long Island.

Molly White

School: Rye

Year: Senior

Position: Midfielder

Highlights: The Academic All-American, who'll play next season for Division I Davidson, had 24 goals and nine assists, secured 48 balls off the draw and used her speed to take possession of another 26 loose balls.

Reese Bruno

School: Yorktown

Year: Senior

Highlights: Bruno, who'll play for Division I Binghamton, earned all-section honors during a season in which she took on added responsibility on defense with 2023 All-American Reileigh McEnroe missing most games due to injury. Bruno, who often shut down opponents' best players, won the race to secure 23 ground balls and also forced 14 turnovers.

Mia Orlando

School: Pelham

Year: Senior

Position: DefensemanMidfielder

Highlights: An All-American last year, the Division-Villanova-bound Orlando gained Academic All-American honors this year after a season in which she had 54 goals, 17 assists, caused opponents to turn the ball over 15 times and recorded 102 balls wins off the draw and picked up another 23 loose ground balls. She got the 400th ball off the draw off her Pelican varsity career in her final high school game.

Maggie Appelle

School: Yorktown

Year: Senior

Position: Goalie

Highlights: The Academic All-Amercian, who'll play for the University of Scranton next year, surpassed 400 saves on varsity this season. She recorded 137 saves in all and, in a sport in which a 50% save average is very good, had huge games against teams like Scarsdale (nine saves in a 15-5 win), Class D champions Bronxville (a remarkable 18 saves in a 7-5 win) and six saves in a 9-5 win over eventual state Class B semifinalist Horace Greeley.

Second team

A — Della Goodman, Sr., Rye

A — Taylor Green, Jr., Pelham

A — Paige Montgomery, Jr., Hen Hud

A — Zoe Stonecipher, Jr., Fox Lane

MF — Lila Berkery, Jr., Harrison

MF — Faith Brown, Fr., Pleasantville

MF — Ava Cuneen, Jr., MF, Yorktown

MF — Carleigh Taylor, Sr., Irvington

MF — Maya Torgalkar, Fr., Rye Country Day

D — Jordan Kauftheil, Jr., John Jay-Cross River

D — Quinn Sheehan, So., Bronxville

D/MF — Lili Valletta, Sr., North Salem

G — Tatum Walsh, Sr., Horace Greeley

Girls lacrosse: Sect 1 coaches select 18 players as All-Americans; see other award winners

Honorable mention : Sofia Boucher, Jr. A, Yorktown; Aisling Boyd, Sr., MF, Holy Child; Jane Brennan, Jr., John Jay-Cross River; Maeve Bruton, Jr., A, Ursuline; Annie Cunneen, Fr., MF, Yorktown; Iliana Dimopoulos , Sr., MF, Edgemont; Abby Dold, Jr., A, Ursuline; Erin Drillock, Sr., Pleasantville; Nicky Einhorn, So., A/MF, Briarcliff; Ellie Garofalo, So., A, Bronxville; Michaela Kaltsas, So., A, Fox Lane; Anna Kelly, Sr., MF, Holy Child; Emma Kelly, Sr., A, Eastchester; Brooke Koffler, Jr., MF, Hackley; Emmaline LeBuhn, Sr., D/MF, Irvington; Harper Lapin, Jr., A/MF, Harrison; Julia Lisi, Sr., MF, Carmel; Kate Loughney, Sr., D, Holy Child; Juliana Mangione, Sr., MF, Mahopac; Elle Mason, Fr., MF, Rye Country Day;; Ciara McCarthy, Sr., G, Pleasantville; Sadie McRae, Jr., A, Irvington; Maddie Merriman, Sr., G, North Salem; Daanya Mir, Sr., A, Hackley; Paige Moretti, Sr., MF, Ursuline; Evelyn Nelson, Jr., A, Sleepy Hollow; Stella Perini, Sr., Harrison; Brooke Pizzarello, So., MF, Lakeland/Panas; Taylor Rice, Sr., A, Horace Greeley; Lexi Robinson, Sr., D, Hen Hud; Lily Shafiroff, Sr., D, Briarcliff; Leyna Schnetzer, Jr., A, Holy Child; Gabby Sosa, Jr., MF, Mamaroneck; Cam Stackhouse, Sr., A, Kennedy Catholic; Lexi Suman, So., MF, Mamaroneck; Campbell Sternberg, Sr., G, Somers; Cat Tonchuck, Sr., G, Carmel; Amy Villanueva, Jr., MF, Bronxville; Beau Whaling, So., A, Rye; Maddy Williams, Jr., MF, Bronxville; Rose Woolery, So. MF, Bronxville

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy .

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester/Putnam girls lacrosse all-stars: Rye's Lilly Whaling is Player of the Year