Ginny Choi passed 200 career points in the second week of the High School North girls’ lacrosse team’s season.
Just a junior, the lightning-quick midfielder amassed huge points right from the outset of her career. She scored 82 goals to go with 23 assists as a freshman, then 70 goals and 11 assists for another 81 points as a sophomore.
Seven games into her third season for the Knights, she already had 31 points on her way to the career milestone.
“She just brings a determination, a drive and some of the best athleticism that I have ever coached in all of my sports,” said Knights coach Julia Giordano. “And that really takes her and the team to new heights.”
Not bad for Choi second sport.
That’s right, as good as Choi is at lacrosse, she is considered even better at soccer. She’s already verbally committed to play at Babson after she graduates in 2026.
“A lot of people know,” Choi said, “but a lot of people are also surprised that I’ve chosen soccer over lacrosse.”
Choi has been dynamic on the soccer pitch and the lacrosse field. Soccer is a far lower scoring game, and Choi scored 16 goals and dished out nine assists last fall. She has 31 goals and 17 assists in her career.
“With soccer, I guess since it’s all with your feet, I think it’s helped my footwork in lacrosse a lot,” Choi said. “I guess with attacking it helps me a lot because I’m able to dodge and also defending in soccer helps me because I’m able to move my feet and stay on my toes.”
Choi grew up playing both soccer and lacrosse at a high level before she had to finally make a choice where to put most of her efforts. She went with soccer, but has fond memories of her development as a lacrosse star.
“I did Lightning, which is like the rec league in West Windsor, and then also growing up, I did Ultimate Lacrosse so I did that travel lacrosse team,” she said. “I did that and also travel soccer so it kind of became a lot so I had to choose between the two. And I ended up choosing club soccer. But I still wanted to play lacrosse in high school.”
Coming into high school, she wasn’t sure what to expect. Her sister, Anna, was voted MVP of the Knights as a sophomore, the year before Choi arrived on the scene. And even though her sister was a talented player who had college interest before a knee injury last year, Choi came in with expectations that were below modest.
“I was definitely surprised,” Choi said. “Obviously I was a freshman, so I was a little bit nervous because it’s going to be my first high school lacrosse season. I was hoping for just like a goal.”
Only one goal. She finished the year with 82.
“Right from the get-go, I remember her first game ever her freshman year, she scored five goals, which was against a very good Robbinsville team,” Giordano said. “I remember we lost that game by two, but we were excited that we were right up with them and to see the potential that Ginny had.”
Her 82 goals were good for second among all freshmen in the state.
Said Choi: “I guess it was better than expected that season.”
She has continued to score at a rapid rate for the Knights, who got off to a 4-3 start, only two games less than they won all of last year. Three of their four wins came by just one goal apiece, while their other win came over rival High School South.
“My team has come out with good energy and also a positive mindset because we just want to win,” Choi said. “So we have a winning mentality. But also when we lose, we don’t get down and we just look forward to our next game and see what we can improve.”
North has shown solid improvement since last year. Their experience helped them get out to a promising beginning and build confidence for the rest of the season.
“Right from the start of the season, we avenged two losses from last year to Steinert and Stuart,” Giordano said. “So I was really proud of the girls. We had lost to both those teams the last year – Steinert, we lost to twice. Stuart, we lost to once last year.
“ I think overall just the teamwork they’ve been able to work on. We’ve worked on our defense a lot with them working as a unit. They’re a really close knit group of players and most of them are returning.”
The offensive end scored double-digit goals in four of the first five games. That’s a step forward too as they build the offense’s potency. With improvements at both ends, the Knights are getting more dangerous.
“I’m seeing improvement on the attacking end as well,” Giordano said. “It’s a good unit of girls that are going to work together. I think the composure of the team, the grittiness and the effort they put forth in these games has been really exciting to watch and to experience for us.”
Choi helps not just with scoring and assisting, but also on the draw control. She was just three draw controls away from 100 for her career after seven games this season. Her quickness helps her win the ball on the circle or if she’s taking the draw, and it’s made her tough to guard on offense. She has tried to improve all aspects of her game and share her experience.
“I’m trying to be more of a leader now since I’m an upperclassman,” Choi said. “I’m just trying to help my teammates and when I see things on the field that we can improve, I try to tell my team so we can do our best to try to win.”
On the field, she’s been forced to make some adjustments to her game with teams giving her lots of attention. She faces faceguards and double-teams frequently as opposing defenses do what they can to make her less of a threat.
“It gets frustrating at times because it’s harder to keep the ball and stuff,” Choi said. “But I realize if there’s more than one girl on me, then that means there’s always another girl open. So I can always find another person to pass to and spread the ball out.”
Learning to adjust to how defenses counter a big-time scorer is part of any good attacker’s development. Choi has gotten better at handling the extra pressure that she’s seen since teams started to realize her freshman year how dynamic she is.
“She’s been working on attacking and reattacking but most importantly, just bringing the team’s level of play to even greater heights is really what she’s been able to do,” Giordano said. “She’s such a determined attacker, she wants to get to goal. We’ve definitely seen now teams know her so they’re going to game plan around her and she’s been able to take whatever the defense is throwing at her, whether it be an adjustment so she gets to goal or she can create opportunities for others by setting picks for others. I think her development has really been in adjusting to being that star player and then also making everybody else on the team better.”
Choi’s speed has always been a part of her skill set. It’s an asset in soccer and lacrosse. And in lacrosse, it works right into her top scoring opportunities.
“I think the best goals are on from transitions and connecting passes,” Choi said. “So those are always my favorite, like the team goals when we can defend and win the ball and then bring it up through transition and then connect the ball and score. I think those are my favorite.”
Choi is looking forward to continuing to score, assist and set up teammates for the North lacrosse team. If she continues her high level, she could get to 300 career points. The Knights are just happy that she’s stuck with her second sport.
“It’s definitely hard to balance,” Choi said. “I have club’s scheduled practices twice a week and then I have lacrosse practice every night. And then sometimes I have soccer games on the weekends, so it does conflict sometimes, but I try to find a balance and I think I have since I’ve been doing it for so long – my whole life. So I’ve gotten pretty used to it, and it hasn’t really been too much of a struggle for me luckily.”
WW-P High School North girls’ soccer star Grace Choi runs with the ball.,
