When the Greenwich High School girls lacrosse team’s season ended on May 31 it marked the conclusion of the careers of several standout seniors, one of whom was Maggie O’Gorman — an athlete for each season.
Making her presence felt on the Cardinals’ field hockey, indoor track and lacrosse teams as a freshman during the 2014-15 school year was just the beginning for O’Gorman, who proceeded to shine for Greenwich each and every scholastic sport season.
O’Gorman, who graduated from Greenwich on Wednesday, was a member of the varsity lacrosse, field hockey and indoor track teams all four of her high school years, excelling at every sport.
Serving as one of the captains of the field hockey, indoor track and lacrosse team as a senior, O’Gorman earned First Team All-State and Second Team All-FCIAC lacrosse honors, was selected as a field hockey First Team All-FCIAC selection and received first team all-conference accolades in track in 2017-18.
“Playing sports at Greenwich High School was such a great experience,” O’Gorman said. “Greenwich High is such a big school, but a great way for students to come together is through sports. I’m glad I was able to stick to playing three sports for four years.”
In an age of specialization, where a good number of athletes focus on competing in one sport, O’Gorman preferred to showcase her athletic skills in three sports at GHS.
“I believe using the different muscle groups that each sport involves was important,” O’Gorman said. “Also, it changed things up and made you look forward to the next season. Getting to meet new people each season was great too.”
O’Gorman said each sport she played helped prepare her for the next.
“Field hockey is such a fast sport and that speed transitions to lacrosse,” she said. “Track helped keep me in shape and improved my stamina, which I needed for both lacrosse and field hockey.”
Lacrosse is O’Gorman’s sport of choice for college and she’ll continue her career at Dartmouth College.
“They have a history of being a really strong program, so I’m excited to see what I can do over there.”
This past season, O’Gorman showed her versatility for the Cardinals. One of the team’s top offensive players, O’Gorman, a midfielder, also saw a significant amount of time on the defensive end of the field for Greenwich, which finished with a record of 16-4, with appearances in the FCIAC tournament semifinals and Class L tournament quarterfinals.
“They (Dartmouth) haven’t told me about specific positions yet, so I could be playing midfield, defense or attack,” O’Gorman said. “I love playing defense.”
She began playing lacrosse as a first-grader, taking the field with her GYL (Greenwich Youth Lacrosse) teammates.
“The speed and physicality is what I like about lacrosse,” O’Gorman said. “There is some contact in lacrosse — you get to rub shoulders with people on the field — and you get to run as fast as you can.”
O’Gorman, whose lacrosse mentors include GHS coach Kaitlin Gaghan and former Cardinals coach Caitlin Copelan, won’t forget her senior campaign on the Cards.
“Just the team dynamic in general was one of the great parts of our team,” said O’Gorman, who earned 12 varsity letters during her GHS athletic career. “We were such a close knit group of girls and no one felt excluded in our group. I’m proud of how we did and I felt we put Greenwich back on the map, because I think some teams were overlooking us.”
A dynamic player, O’Gorman first tested her skills in field hockey as a fourth-grader and immediately enjoyed the challenges it offered.
“Field hockey is very unpredictable,” she said. “You have a lot less control than you have with lacrosse. It’s very exciting to play and is fast-paced.”
Greenwich field hockey coach Ally Orrico saw the spirit O’Gorman entered each matchup with.
“Maggie is a fierce competitor, she loves to compete and wants to win so badly,” said Orrico, who was a star field hockey player during her high school days at GHS. “She plays hard from the start of the game until the finish, no matter what the scoreboard shows. You can’t coach heart and she has so much heart and competitiveness in her.”
O’Gorman was instrumental in the Cardinals winning all but two of their regular-season field hockey games and advancing to the semifinal-round CIAC Class L Tournament.
“Her speed and athleticism are what really separated her,” Orrico said. “In the sport of field hockey, you need to have that refuse-to-be-denied attitude to be an effective scorer and Maggie had it. Her refusal to be denied elevated the game of her teammates. I’m proud of her accomplishments over the past four years and I’m sure the underclassmen took a lot away from her legacy.”
In February, O’Gorman ran on Greenwich’s 1,600 sprint medley relay team with Olivia Caan (also a lacrosse teammate), Zoe Harris and Emily Philippides at the State Open Championships. They won the event in 4:18.18 for the Cards, who captured their first State Open team title.
“Indoor track was so much fun, there were so many talented people on the team,” O’Gorman said.
Being a captain of three teams were roles O’Gorman learned from and took seriously.
“When you are a captain you have different responsibilities from everyone else,” she said. “You have to think about how what you are doing effects everyone else on the field. I definitely I enjoyed being a captain.”
dfierro
@greenwichtime.com
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