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Govs goalie looks to make a name at nationals

Wednesday, May, 21 By John Shimer
Staff writer

What do Deilia Cox, Margaret Metz, Baileigh Kimball and Alex McLain all have in common?

Each one was an All-American in girls lacrosse at Governor's Academy and each one moved on to play at the highest level, Division 1 lacrosse in college.

The Govs have become a gold mine for girls lacrosse prospects sending girls to play at Maryland, Virginia, the Naval Academy, University of Denver, University of New Hampshire, and several other prominent programs.

The latest name to pop up on everyone's radar screen from the hot bed in Byfield, junior netminder Mary Leah DiNisco. Recently named Lower New England's Team 1 goalie (the top team of 5), she will compete at the U.S. Lacrosse National Championships in Maryland over Memorial Day weekend.

What that means, not only is DiNisco one of the top 16 goalies in New England, but come July 1 when she officially becomes a high school senior her name is going to be on speed dial for just about every coach across the country that has to fill a need at goal.

"She is definitely one of the best goalies in New England," said GA coach Molly Prinn. "A lot of coaches have been interested in her because she has everything coaches are looking for: incredibly athletic, ridiculously fast reflexes, a great competitor, she's not afraid to come out of the net, and just a lot of overall innate ability you can't teach that coaches are drawn to."

On top of the recent honor of joining the Lower New England first team, DiNisco has also been recognized by the ISL as the Govs' top defender three years running, and been chosen to the NEPSAC all-star the last two years.

"She's at the top of everyone's list as far as our star players go," Prinn said. "This year we've had our best season in the five years that I have been here, and in large part that's due to her."

The statistics that jump of the page: 10.9 saves per game, a 7.6 goals against average and the fact that she lead the Govs to an 11-4 record. And barring an injury next season, DiNisco will accomplish another incredible feat, starting every varsity game of her four-year career.

"She's grown more and more confident in net, I think she never realized how good she was early on, but she's learned to handle the pressure of being our only goalie each year," said Prinn of the only goalie she has carried on the varsity team the past three seasons. "When she gets fired up, the team gets fired up, and I think she's starting to realize the type of influence she has on the rest of the team. She carries a lot of weight on her shoulders, but I think she handles it well."

Over the coming months between her trip to nationals this weekend, going to lacrosse camp at Bowdoin and playing for her club team Seacoast in the summer, DiNisco will surely get plenty of national attention at the Division 1 level. However, as a two-sport star athlete in both basketball and lacrosse, DiNisco may stay at the Division 3 level to play both sports.

"I expect that she will have a lot of different opportunities | goalie is a specialized position, so it depends on the needs of a program | but I do anticipate that she will have some Division 1 options," Prinn said. "However, she's also a standout basketball player, so there is a chance she will go Division 3 to play both basketball and lacrosse. Right now I think she is keeping her options open to see what coaches take an interest in her game."

One thing that is abundantly clear, even without the ball in her hands most of the time, DiNisco is a game-changing player.

"Mary Leah is a game-maker, if she has an on game we're going to win," Prinn praised. "There's times she gets in that zone and you can't beat her, and we're getting more and more of those games from her. She will be a force to reckon with in the future. Just wait and see, this girl is going to do some great things."