Every high school athlete’s dream came true last week for one talented SHS athlete: Allison Irish, SHS girls’ lacrosse standout and one of The Scituation’s very own, committed to play lacrosse at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Junior “Ally” Irish, who plays attack for both the SHS girls’ lacrosse team and Laxachusetts club team, has taken the next step by deciding to play the sport for Saint A’s Division II program.

Irish started playing lacrosse in the third grade after being encouraged to do so by her mother, who played in college, and her sister, who played at SHS. When she first started playing, Irish didn’t have any desire to play in college. This hope of taking her lacrosse skills to the college level didn’t arise until around 8th grade, after hearing about others on her club team who were going on to play in college. She said she was also drawn by the idea that being a college athlete “helps you stand out from other people.” This is especially true with girls’ lacrosse as, according to scholarshipstats.com, only 13.3% of high school girl lacrosse players go on to play in college.

During her college recruitment process, Irish visited many colleges, including Babson, Union, Trinity, and Assumption, but she was eventually drawn to Saint Anselm’s. According to Irish, a lot of factors played into her decision: playing time, coaching, and whether she saw herself fitting in on campus. Saint Anselm’s appealed to Irish due to its smaller size, focus on academics, the idea of being a student-athlete, and the sense of community. Irish visited the campus three times. The first time was just a general visit to get a sense of the school. The second visit was to meet and talk with the coach, and the third trip was an official visit, which allowed her to stay over with the Saint A’s Women’s Lacrosse team and get a sense of what it’s is truly like to be an athlete at their school. She admitted that while her parents encouraged her to visit many schools and keep her options open, the final decision was all her own.

Despite still having a lot of time until college, Irish is very confident with her decision to commit to Saint A’s. She has been looking at colleges since freshman year and is glad that a lot of the stress has been taken off of her, as she only has to apply to one school now. That being said, she can back out of her verbal commitment at any time before signing a contract in the beginning of her senior year.

When asked if she had a phrase that she tried to live by, Irish responded that “staying true to [her]self” is very important. She admitted that her main motivation in lacrosse is the competition, and it seems to have paid off, as she now joins an elite and exclusive group of high school athletes. For many, high school is the end of their sports career, but Irish isn’t done yet, as she hopes to bring the success she had at Scituate High to Saint Anselm’s lacrosse program.