While many seniors are kind of cruising toward graduation as their high school careers wind down, Megan Conroy is just the opposite.
That’s what makes her so special and so successful.
The Allentown High girls’ lacrosse goalie is taking three advance placement courses and one honors class this semester, while also studying video of future lax opponents, and practicing and playing games as she tries helping the Redbirds to a second straight NJSIAA Group II state championship. She is also preparing for her “next life” at Notre Dame University.
“That’s the biggest struggle, balancing everything,” Conroy said. “I did not get the dream of the spring semester for a senior. I’m into a lot of work right now. When you’re balancing academics and athletics, obviously social life can be a little difficult but I do find time for everything.”
Allentown coach Justin Schmid can only admire Conroy’s work effort.
“No senior-itis for her,” Schmid said. “She’s gotta stay focused until the very end. But that’s what she’s done. She sacrifices to be where she’s at.”
And where exactly is she?
To start with, she has a 3.9 grade point average and is a member of the Math Honor Society and National Honor Society. On the field, Conroy recently broke the school’s all-time record for lacrosse saves and later became the first Redbird girls player with 600 saves.
That’s good enough to gain her acceptance to Notre Dame, where she will report on June 15 for what is known as the Bridge Program for student-athletes. For five weeks Conroy will do lifting, conditioning, take three classes and play lacrosse with her future ND teammates.
Hopefully, she can dip her toe in the Atlantic Ocean sometime in July. But rest assured Conroy will be anxious for a quick return to the Midwest.
She already sounds like a Golden Domer.
Conroy talked to coach Christine Halfpenny the first day communication was allowed on Dec. 1 of her junior year. She visited the South Bend campus the third weekend in September and was overcome by the sheer power of ND’s tradition.
“Everything about it was so perfect.” Conroy said. The campus was amazing. I really value a tight team with a good culture, like we have at Allentown… They gave us sideline passes for the football game and it’s obviously insane for Notre Dame football. It was the most enjoyable experience ever. I told the coach how interested I was and I committed less than a week later.”
With her future mapped out, Conroy has not forgotten about the present and the mission her current team is on.
The career goalkeeper is bent on repeating the magic of last year and wants to maintain the excellence of her first three seasons, in which AHS went 64-11 with three trips to the South Jersey Group II title game.
“We’re all just chasing the feeling of winning the state championship again,” Conroy said. “No one really expected us to be able to do that last year.”
The Redbirds are striving for further awesomeness. Despite some key graduation losses they carried a 7-2 record into their Apr. 17 game with Princeton. Conroy was her usual stingy self, yielding an average of 7.1 goals per game while making 14.3 saves per contest.
On Apr. 1 she made 10 saves against Lawrence, giving her 580 for her career and surpassing 2013 grad Nicole Gehring’s school mark of 574. With the Redbirds in Florida on Apr. 9, she made three saves against St. Vincent-St. Mary of Ohio, which gave her an even 600.
Not surprisingly she took the humble route to her records.
“That was something I was really happy to do for myself, but it’s 100 percent something I could not have done without the girls who play in front of me,” she said. “I also give a lot of credit to my parents (Michael and Donna) with the success I’ve had. Since I was young and traveling to tournaments, my dad would always shoot on me. Both of them helped me so much and Schmid did as well.”
Those rides to games started when Conroy was 5 and playing for the Dragons rec program. In second grade she started travel with DEWLAX and moved to the high-powered Steps program when she got to high school. That provided the opportunity to be tutored by Mike Walsh, who coached 26 All-Americans and seven state championship teams at Summit High School.
“Everyone there is so good and everyone competes all the time, that was probably the best decision I ever made,” Conroy said. “Most colleges recruit from travel and I would say Steps helped significantly with my recruiting.”
There was never any doubt what position Conroy would play. By second grade she was strictly a goalie, following in the footsteps of brother Jack, who graduated from AHS last year.
“I liked it immediately,” she said. “When you’re that young not every team has a goalie in rec. I would just hope the other team would have a goalie so I could play goal. If not I had to play in the field.”
Schmid first saw Conroy in seventh grade when he was the middle school coach. Being new to lacrosse, he thought she was good but wasn’t quite sure until other coaches began buzzing.
“They were like ‘Who is that kid, she’s unreal,’” Schmid recalled. “As a new guy in lacrosse I’m thinking ‘Is she really that good?’ and these coaches are like ‘Dude, that kid’s legit.’ And she’s 12.”
Schmid got the high school job in Conroy’s freshman year. He recalled her being somewhat humble, thinking she might be on JV or maybe split time on varsity.
“By day two in tryouts, she had separated herself,” the coach said. “Even though I coached her before, everybody got an even chance. I wanted to look at everybody and with her it was just save after save in tryouts and away we go.”
It’s safe to say she wasn’t concerning herself with 600 saves in ninth grade.
“I can’t say I had the school record on my mind when I was a freshman,” she said with a laugh. “I just wanted to be that starting goalie on varsity. As it went on it was just to compete with the high-level players. When you’re a freshman playing people who are 18 you just want to compete.”
And she did.
Conroy made 130 and 214 saves her first two seasons when Allentown reached the sectional finals. She had 208 saves last year and was key to the state title run.
In assessing what makes his goalie so good, the coach noted her dedication to trekking to North Jersey for travel, saying — Summit’s not close — and noted her attention to detail.
“She’s always studying film, she’s studying kids’ shot tendencies, especially the kids she knows we have to shut down,” Schmid said.
Conroy is aided by senior defenders Victoria Stawaris and Chloe Tomlinson, who are her two of her best friends, as well as senior Sophia LaSalle, who Schmid said “has been a rock star the past two years for us.” With veteran defenders Ava Mintchwarner and Bella Magliozzo graduated, the newcomers in the back are sophomore Caeyln Fitzpatrick and Grace Vergari.
“I have such a good relationship with Chloey and Vic,” Conroy said. “Those are two people I spend so much time with off the field. We work so well together on the field…
“Soph is awesome. She’s playing a little bit of D and midfield. We usually put her against some of the best players we’re up against.”
And then there are the newbies, Fitzpatrick and Vergari.
“I had to take on a much bigger leadership role this year than last year,” Conroy said. “Both of them trust what I say and what Chloey and Vic say. They always ask questions about what they can do better.”
And while it’s a stellar defensive group, it helps to have a goalie they can trust in the back.
“If you can force a contested or a long shot, that’s almost like a turnover because Meg’s gonna track it and save it,” Schmid said. “We tell them ‘Don’t try to do too much to where you get beat.’ If it’s a one-v-one with the goalie, you have advantage to the attacker. It’s hard to stop someone right in front of you although Meg’s done it from time to time.”
One of Conroy’s most refreshing attributes is never casting blame on anyone but herself.
“There’s never a finger point to someone who makes a mistake and leaves her with a one-v-one,” Schmid said. “It’s just like ‘Let’s correct this and move on.’ She’s a point the thumb (at herself), not the finger kind of person. Sometimes she’ll take on too much when it’s not her fault, but that’s what the great ones do.”
And there’s little doubt that Conroy is the greatest to ever do it at Allentown.
Allentown High girls’ lacrosse goalie Megan Conroy (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
