Women's lacrosse: Medina graduate Abby Cassidy making immediate impact at John Carroll

Be a spark plug. That's the saying the John Carroll women's lacrosse team has been using this season, and that's exactly what sophomore midfielder Abby Cassidy has been since stepping onto the field last season. The Medina graduate didn't miss a beat, netting five goals in her debut against Grove City, but even the 2024 Greater Cleveland Conference Player of the Year didn't believe it. "I would say I was pretty surprised when I had such a good start to my freshman season," Cassidy said. "I wasn't really expecting that, but I kind of just rolled with it. I worked really hard to get to where I am." It didn't take long for Cassidy to fit in with the Blue Streaks, as she started 18 of the 19 games, with the exception being that opener against Grove City. She just needed to find her place and figure out her role, which was something she did rather quickly. "(I got comfortable) once I kind of understood how much of an offensive threat I was," Cassidy said. "I was the top scorer for a while, and I just connected really well with some of the returners on the team. I think that's when I realized that I could make a big impact on the team my freshman year." Cassidy came out of the gate as a freshman with 47 goals and 20 assists for 67 points. She was second on the team in goals and points, earned Ohio Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year and was first-team All-OAC. "It was really fun," Cassidy said. "I got a lot of recognition and praise, so it was cool. Once I realized that I was capable of it, I just kind of went for it and I accomplished it." When a player has that kind of success early, opponents are going to adjust. It's something Cassidy experieced near the end of her freshman season and even more now. "Obviously teams didn't really know my style of play very well my freshman year," she said. "But towards the end of the season my freshman year, I was getting face-guarded and things like that, so that was kind of hard. But definitely this year, you can tell that I've been scouted a lot more by the teams." After scoring just three goals over the first four games this season, Cassidy now has 15 in eight after reeling off four straight multi-goal efforts, including four at Hope on March 14, three against Nazareth on March 18, three against Fredonia on March 21 and two against Lewis & Clark on March 24, all wins before a two-week break. "I think coming into my sophomore year, I kind of had a lot of pressure on my back, just because we lost one of our big offensive players last year," Cassidy said. "I think I was trying to take too much control in a way. I just needed to step down and realize what my role was and work together with the team. It wasn't just me. I think our offense in general was struggling a lot at first, but then once we figured it out, things clicked. We're doing a lot better now." Part of Cassidy figuring it out was learning what her role was against certain defenses. Sometimes she has to be the scorer, while other times she has to be the facilitator. "It's just little things like understanding your role and what you need to do to help the team win," she said. "Understanding the little things has really helped our offense." Cassidy and the Blue Streaks now take on another challenge by beginning play in the North Coast Athletic Conference for the first time. John Carroll joined the conference starting this academic year after being in the OAC since 1989. A new conference means new opponents, but the Blue Streaks know they need to focus on making themselves better. "I think we need to focus on ourselves a lot," Cassidy said. "Our offense has been doing a lot better recently, so I think we need to keep that up and just focus on fundamentals and the same thing for defense. A thing that we say a lot is to be a spark plug for each other. Defense, be a spark plug for offense, and same goes for offense being a spark plug for defense. That helps us a lot." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.