Mia Haughton, left, and Katie Reilly pose after a game at Princeton High School last year.
Princeton High School grads Katie Reilly and Mia Haughton work on their college lacrosse careers.
Katie Reilly and Mia Haughton, former Princeton High School girls’ lacrosse co-captains, have been friends for over 10 years.
Now, eight sports teams, a Mercer County title and several “bob haircuts” later, the two 2012 graduates just wrapped up their freshmen seasons with the Amherst College women’s lacrosse team. Haughton was a starter, and Reilly saw some playing time for the Lord Jeffs.
Reilly and Haughton didn’t plan on going to college together, but the New England Small College Athletic Conference is one of the most competitive D-III conferences, Haughton said.
“Once we narrowed down our options, we both knew we wanted to play for one of the NESCAC teams. Katie and I didn’t even figure out the other was interested in Amherst until we had separately decided to apply early decision,” she said.
They looked forward to being teammates for another four years once they realized what had happened.
“Having Mia with me here at Amherst has made the transition much easier,” Reilly said. “It’s so nice to have a familiar face at school and on the field. It is really helpful because we’ve played together since middle school, so we know each other’s strength and weaknesses. We can push each other in practices.”
It’s easy to see why. The girls have been teammates in soccer, lacrosse, and basketball since they were 8 years old. They have had plenty of time to adapt to once another.
“We understand each other really well both on and off the field,” Haughton said. “We have always looked out for and supported one another. A huge thing for us is holding one another accountable.”
That came in handy at Amherst. Reilly and Haughton said the transition from high school to college athletics can be difficult.
“College lacrosse is completely different from high school lacrosse,” Haughton said. “There’s more preparation, more responsiblity, and more to lose. The NESCAC allows coaches to swap film, so they can do a good amount of scouting and preparing before every game. This makes the games way more competitive and strategic. The level of play between high school and college is night and day. Girls in college are stronger, faster, and better. That’s all it really comes down to.”
To keep up with the competition, the squad had lifting sessions three times a week, sprint classes two times a week and captain’s practices at least three times a week. Once the season started on February 15, Haughton said they were outside almost every day regardless of the weather.
All of that preparation paid off for the girls, though. Haughton started 11 of the team’s 15 games and finished the season with eight goals and eight assists. Reilly appeared in five games and saw nearly 50 minutes of playing time.
“It was amazing to see [Haughton] start and contribute to the team in a big way with goals and assists,” Reilly said. “It was heartwarming to hear her name announced with the other starters over the loudspeaker before our first game.”
Reilly and Haughton were key members of the 2011 PHS Mercer County championship team. They said their success on the field in high school helped them adjust to playing for Amherst.
“The skills and mentality that PHS lacrosse helped me build were very helpful when it came to playing at a higher level,” Reilly said. Haughton agreed.
“I could not have asked for a better coach than Christie Cooper or a better team than the one I had at PHS,” she said. “It was a program in which I could learn just as much from the extremely talented and strong-minded younger players as they could learn from me. They all taught me so much about what it really means to be a teammate and a leader and helped me realize that lacrosse is more than just a game.”
Still, both girls are ready for what the rest of their college careers hold.
“It was strange for us to not be leading the warm-up or pre-game cheer since that was what he had done together on the field for the entire previous year,” Reilly said. “We got used to it. It is a blast to challenge each other to perform to our potential and continue being teammates.”
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