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Girls Lacrosse: New Trier’s Rossi decides to stick with lacrosse
Glenview - The Loyola Academy Girls lacrosse Invitational. New Trier battles Upper Arlington of Ohio. Emma Rossi New Trier battles for the loose ball. | Joe Cyganowski ~ For Sun Times Media
Updated: July 2, 2012 8:05AM
Emma Rossi dropped softball after her freshman year at New Trier and was looking for another sport in the spring.
Rossi knew some friends who played lacrosse, so she gave the sport a shot.
For the tryout, Rossi, then a sophomore, used a borrowed stick and some smarts to make the Trevians, one of the top programs in the Midwest and owners of five state championships.
On the bus ride to her first game, Rossi sat with a coach for a final rundown of the rules.
Rossi’s come a long way.
After securing a scholarship to play at Division I New Hampshire, the three-year veteran is ready to help the Trevians to their first state title since 2008. New Trier is the No. 2 seed behind the Loyola at the state tournament. New Trier was scheduled to play Glenbard West in the sectional final Monday after beating Conant 26-1 last week to improve to 20-2.
The title game is June 1 at Northwestern.
“I picked it up quickly,” Rossi said. “I did what I needed to do to get on the team. “
Rossi elevated her game following a camp at Duke last summer.
“I improved a lot there,” she said. “There are only so many good teams and players around here. Playing against all those good athletes at Duke really helped me get better.”
Rossi started out at New Trier as a defender. Trevians coach Pete Collins put Rossi in the midfield and at draw controls as her stick skills strengthened.
“She’s really emerged as a force on the field,” he said. “She went from no lacrosse experience to a Division I player. She’s also been an outstanding leader for us.”
Rossi knew she wanted to be a college athlete when she entered New Trier. Her parents, William and Leeann, both were athletes at Bethel University. William went on to play professional basketball in Europe.
Emma’s brother Alex is a college basketball player, now at Valparaiso after transferring from Cal-Berkeley. A two-year varsity basketball player, Emma is the only one in the family with a background in lacrosse. She influenced her younger brother Will, a freshman in the program, to pick up the sport.
“I’ve played sports my life, and I couldn’t imagine not playing a sport in college,” Emma said. “I didn’t think it would lacrosse at first because we are a big basketball family. The lacrosse thing is still kind of new to everybody.”
