Morgan Bressler felt that “in my senior season I had to finish with a bang and just become more eager to score than the last few years.”
A bang?
How about a KA-BOOOOOOM!
The recent Hamilton West graduate blew up the lacrosse record book not just for her school, but for all of Hamilton Township. Her 89 goals this season broke her own 2022 record of 62 (for boys and girls), which had beaten Erin Septer’s 2013 school mark of 55 and the township record of 57 set by Steinert’s Conner Braddock in 2022.
In becoming the first township player to amass over 200 career goals (with 215), Bressler smashed the nine-year old school record of 133 by Lashay Ross, and the township standard of 165 established by Braddock. She became the first township player to crack the century mark for points in a season with 114 and her 256 career points beat Septer’s 161 for the West record and came within 11 of Braddock’s township mark of 267.
A bang like that could wipe out nations.
Asked to reflect upon it after the season, Bressler admitted she amazed even herself.
“Oh 100 percent,” she said. “When it happened I felt it was too much to even think about at the time. I was thinking I still have games left, I have things to accomplish. When I look back on it now I’m like ‘Wow, I did that. I have the most goals in Hamilton ever!’ That’s crazy.
“It’s not even something I ever wished to accomplish. It’s unreal to me. I don’t even think the word is satisfied. I’m just very proud of myself for what I accomplished.”
Like older sister Madi – a senior on the Hornets when Morgan was a freshman playing her first year of lacrosse – Morgan had been a lifelong soccer player who did both sports all through high school. Madi became an assistant to head coach Katie Bloodgood this spring and loved having a front row seat to history.
“When Morgan scored her 100th goal last year I was like ‘OK, woah she’s good!’” Madi said. “But when she beat the school record for career goals and then most goals for one season her talent was so clear.
“I have always said Morg has such an offensive mentality. No matter what the sport is, she loves nothing more than scoring goals for her team. Her speed and vision of the field was always a huge part of her game. Once she got better control of the ball and her stick skills improved; that was when she really took off.”
If anyone can judge Bressler’s growth as a player, it’s the girl who has knocked heads with her throughout their lifetimes. Morgan always called Madi her biggest supporter and sharpest critic, and felt secure with her on the sidelines.
“It was honestly the best thing that could have happened for my lacrosse career,” Bressler said. “I was so happy she was my coach. She knew when I was mad at myself or annoyed. She knew how to tell me what to do or how I could fix it. No other person or coach could do that except for her.”
It’s called sisterly tough love.
“If I totally messed up she’d say ‘Well maybe instead of doing this you should have done that,’” Morgan said. “Instead of a coach saying ‘Well you’ll get ‘em next time,’ she would correct me.”
Madi, who played soccer at Mercer County Community College and is now transferring to The College of New Jersey for kinesiology, gave plenty of thought as to how she would handle Morgan and knew she might press her a bit more than the other players. .
“My role was going to have to change a little and I might be a little harder on her,” Madi said. “I always gave her that sisterly supporting advice, but now that I was so up close being on the sidelines and at practice, I was definitely one of her biggest critics.
“The entire team and coaching staff could tell you Morg and I definitely had our moments on the sidelines. But anything I ever said to her was because I knew her abilities and ultimately wanted her to be the best possible teammate and player.”
Madi could see potential in Morgan when the two were growing up. Always anxious to prove she was as good as her older sibling, the kid was tenacious.
“Morgan was always tough, at most times tougher than me and loved to give me a hard time,” Madi said. “Up until high school, even the silliest things were competitions between us and even our younger brother (Cullen, a Hornet baseball player).”
While at West, Madi was a three-year varsity performer in soccer and lacrosse, and had a strong senior year in lax with 30 goals and 13 assists. That was also her one year as Morgan’s teammate.
“I knew she had that offensive scoring mentality from soccer, and it was fun to see that transcribed in her lacrosse playing,” Madi said. “She was just warming up to high school sports, but with her abundance of energy and big personality it was obvious that she was going to grow and become a great leader. Her dedication and love for the sport of lacrosse just completely launched her to the next level and she truly was fun to watch.”
Morgan broke Septer’s season record as a sophomore, and came within one of tying that mark last season. This year, she came out smoking with seven goals in an opening-day win over J.P. Stevens. Her biggest explosion was 10 goals in a 14-13 loss to Stuart, and she had four or more goals 13 times while scoring in every game.
In assessing her progress, Bressler pointed to her head instead of her stick.
“I feel like it was more my mental game,” she said. “My sophomore and junior yearI would just be in my head and I’d think about the plays that happened. I’d think ‘Oh I messed that up,’ and I’d keep going back to what I’d just completed instead of focusing on what I was doing right then and there. My senior year if I missed a ball I just moved on and kept playing.”
Part of her mental strength is patience. With a 3.5 grade point average, Bressler is bound for Rowan to major in elementary education. She became a member of the Unified Club – which plays athletic events and hangs out with special education students – at Grice Middle School and stuck with it at Hamilton (and was also Yearbook president). Her aim is to be a Special Ed teacher, which takes some patience.
That quality also pays off on the field.
“When you’re unsuccessful scoring-wise and you just want to rush to the goal, you have to be patient,” Bressler said. “You don’t need to force this goal right now, you’ll get one eventually. Pass it to other people and see if they’re more successful than you are for now.”
Her passing is something that got overlooked underneath the avalanche of goals, but Bressler tallied a team-leading and career-high 25 assists this season.
“Even though she got these awards for scoring all these goals I think for me her biggest accomplishment was her growth in becoming a selfless player and her realization that she can score all these goals but also find ways to get her teammates to score goals as well,” Madi said. “Her growing into that kind of player was my favorite thing to watch from her, and it really made me proud of the team player she has become.”
It was something Morgan made a priority this year, knowing that a one-girl show is not going to win games.
“One of my biggest goals this year was to get more assists,” she said. “I didn’t just want to be the only one who scored. I wanted everyone else to be involved and have their goals too. I wanted the team to be successful even if it wasn’t even me scoring the goals.”
Hamilton has become successful under Bloodgood, who has breathed life into a dormant program. West went 10-9 this year for a school-record third straight winning season after six straight losing campaigns. Bressler actually had quality people to pass to in sophomore Amelia Reed (35 goals, 11 assists) and junior Ava Rogalinski (24 goals, 10 assists).
“Those two are power attack players,” Madi said. “They’re unstoppable.”
And they were aided by the fact all eyes were on Bressler.
“If they know you’re the big scorer they think you’re gonna go to goal,” she said. “So if you fake them going to goal and you find a player next to the goal and pass it to them, the defense is not gonna expect that.”
In looking ahead to college, Bressler is interested in playing varsity lacrosse as she looks to focus on academics. She will play club, however, as the sport is in her blood. But it never dominated her life to the point where she gave up soccer just to focus on lacrosse.
“I was just happy playing both sports,” said Bressler, who will work at Killarney’s this summer before leaving for school. “I wasn’t really looking forward to doing anything (athletically) futurewise. I was just letting it play out.”
It played out all right.
With a bang louder than any Fourth of July celebration will produce.
Hamilton High senior and school lacrosse scoring record holder Morgan Bressler in conversation with older sister Madi, an assistant coach, during a game.,
