It’s not surprising that Maxxe Rice failed to mention in conversation that she was this year’s Hopewell Valley Central High Homecoming Queen.
“She’s a humble girl,” said Bulldogs girls lacrosse coach Sara Wagner, who was the homecoming informant.
That humility is displayed in her sport. Rice is one of the top players on an HVCHS team that won eight of its first nine games this year. But few people realize it, because she is a defender who has never gotten a headline.
“On defense, it’s hard (to get publicity) because people don’t really recognize getting the ground balls and forcing turnovers,” the senior said. “Defenders aren’t usually recognized.”
And that’s just fine with Rice, because she does it for the love of the game and love of the position. Her elder brother, Jack, defended for Lawrenceville School’s national prep championship team last year, and is now playing at Swarthmore. Sister Sammy, an 8th-grader at Timberlane, also plays in the back.
“We’re a family of defenders,” Rice said. “I naturally gravitated toward defense. I saw my brother play defense. When I first went out all the girls knew their position and knew what they wanted to play. I tested out midfield, I tested out attack. Something just kept drawing me back to defense and I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else.”
Wagner is impressed by Rice’s attitude.
“When I played I wanted to score goals,” the coach said with a laugh. “But for her it’s fun and it’s exhilarating to stop the play or prevent her attack from scoring or getting a shot off.
“Defenders don’t show up in the stats. You have to be selfless to begin with but also determined. You have to have that inside of you. She definitely does. That’s a family trait.”
Rice leads a defensive unit that allowed five or less goals in six of Hopewell’s first eight victories. She teams in the back with senior Aynsley Mauldin and junior Meghan Hofacker – who has already committed to play at Lake Forest in Illinois. Also rotating in are juniors Elle Sullivan and Katie Reinhart.
They play in front of a freshman goalie, Lexi Jones, so Rice’s veteran knowledge is crucial.
“It’s important to have the experience Maxxe and Meghan bring,” Wagner said. “They have great one-v-one skills. Maxxe is able to keep her attacker to one side to limit the point blank shots on goal. She and Meghan give Lexi that immediate outlet on the clear. We make sure that happens. She needs that structure as a freshman.”
When it comes to one-v-one plays, Rice welcomes the challenge.
“It’s just having confidence in yourself, holding your ground and knowing you have the ability to stop them,” she said. “I force their hits and try to push them to their off-hand. You want to get them using the hand they’re not comfortable with, or force them to the outside so they don’t have an angle to shoot.”
Those are situations no defender should be in if the defense is functioning properly. Rice feels for that to happen, everyone must be working as one.
“You can’t be a good defender without having strong people helping you,” she said. “Defense is really a team position. You have to talk, you have to communicate. You always have to look out for each other. Without communication you wouldn’t be able to work as a team.”
Accountability is also important. Wagner noted that Rice is the first to admit her mistake, and will then use it as a teaching point for younger players.
“If you do something wrong, it affects the whole defense,” Rice said. “You have to hold yourself accountable and just say ‘Sorry, my bad, I’ll do better next time.’ Whenever I make a mistake I reflect on it and say ‘What can I do better next time and how can i improve on that?’
“It’s less about dwelling on my mistake and more about being cognizant of what I can do better in that situation to benefit the team. I try to give that positive outlook to the rest of the team as well. We just learn from our mistakes.”
There are those who think there was a mistake on Rice’s birth certificate considering the odd spelling of her first name.
But it was all calculated.
“So with my great grandparents, one was named Max, one was named Maxine,” Rice explained. “My parents wanted to name me after them. I guess they wanted some unique spelling and they knew someone that had the same spelling. They thought it was cool. And then they just decided to add the E on the end.”
As she went out into the world with her unique moniker, Rice took a while to explore lacrosse. Urged by big brother Jack to try the sport, she joined the West Windsor-based Lightning Lacrosse in fourth grade.
“The hand-eye coordination at the beginning is really tough to get down,” she said. “I always consider myself a late starter. It was kind of hard at the beginning catching up with everyone who had been playing since they literally could walk. I just got thrown into it and picked it up pretty quick. It was really great. I fell in love with it as soon as I started playing.”
Rice and offensive powerhouse Gianna Azzara – both senior captains – made the varsity as freshmen and began getting serious playing time as sophomores. Maxxe had begun impressing her coaches in the previous off-season.
“Three years ago when I was assistant with Pam (Edwards), we went to a winter league game and were just watching, and Maxxe stood out with how much she hustles,” Wagner said. “She would bring the ball up, but not shoot, and then get back on defense. And she was vocal.”
She has since become the Bulldogs defensive leader, helping to demonstrate drills and things of that nature.
“She’s my go-to girl for everything,” Wagner said.
Interestingly, Rice never played club lacrosse, but remained in the Lightning rec program until she got to high school. She did some center court clinics and went to Princeton University’s camp in seventh grade, but her experience mainly came from recreation lacrosse and playing with her dad and brother.
And yet, she thrives without playing club or travel.
“That’s not a surprise because of her work ethic,” Wagner said. “She just wanted to be really good at lacrosse. She would come out and do wall-ball at the school when no one else was doing it. She’s intrinsically determined to be the best at her position so she didn’t necessarily need club.”
Rice’s determination makes her a perfect captain. She not only tutors her fellow defenders, but young players on the offensive end as well.
“Maxxe didn’t need any lessons in that, she’s just naturally a leader,” Wagner said. “She’s got some skills you can’t teach.”
Her leadership ability is on display off the field as well. Last year, Rice established Hopewell’s Jewish American Cultural Club, which has 20 members. The group celebrates the Jewish holidays and other cultural aspects of the faith.
She is also on the National Honor Society with a 4.0 unweighted GPA, and will attend Virginia Tech next year to major in sustainable biomaterials.
“It’s kind of an unknown major,” she said. “It’s a mix of engineering and science and creating materials that will create a more sustainable future for us.”
The more one learns about the well-rounded Rice, the more apparent it becomes that she is not just an obscure defender on a good lacrosse team. She’s the exact opposite, in fact.
Wagner loves talking about the Bulldogs youth camp run by the team.
“She’s the perfect ambassador for the Hopewell lacrosse community,” the coach said. “At camp the rec girls loved her. Every day they would come up and have their hair like Maxxe or they’d be wondering what she’s gonna wear so they could be like Maxxe. When she shows up they’re like ‘Maaaxxe!’ and they’d run up to each other and tell the newer girls ‘That’s Maxxe!’”
So basically, Maxxe is a celebrity without even getting lacrosse headlines?
“She just has that magnetism,” Wagner said. “She’s a rock star everywhere she goes!”
The best kind of rock star: one who stays humble about her status.
Maxxe Rice in action for Hopewell Valley lacrosse. (Photo courtesy of Maxxe Rice.),
