Lisauskas setting her own path for Pinkerton girls lacrosse and beyond

Hannah Lisauskas remembers going to Pinkerton Academy girls lacrosse games when she was younger, watching some of the best players ever to wear an Astros uniform leave their legacy on the program.

She never expected to be one of them herself.

With her senior season winding down, Lisauskas hasn't just made her mark on the program and its record books. She's rewritten them.

Most points in a game? Lisauskas did that earlier this season in a win over Hanover, putting up 13 (six goals, seven assists), which also put her over three hundred career points.

Most assists in a season? Yeah, she's got that, too, sitting at 81 this year after breaking the record of 68 set by Caitlin Seleny just three years ago.

Most points in a season? The senior topped that mark in Pinkerton's second-to-last game of the regular season, a win over Nashua North, in which she broke the previous mark of 114, set by Kennedy Daziel in 2013. Lisauskas is at 129 going into the Astros' playoff game against Bedford on Thursday.

But what about the biggest one, career points?

Lisauskas got that one, too, breaking the record of 338 points set by Megan O'Reilly, who played for the Astros from 1999-2002 and is the daughter of former Pinkerton boys lacrosse coach and current athletic director and football coach Brian O'Reilly.

"It feels a little surreal," Lisaukas said. "There have been so many great players that have come here before me in this program, and I grew up watching this team. My sister (Lauren) played for this team, and even before that, I got to watch the Daziel sisters play and Maggie McCarthy, and all of these incredible players. For me to be among the greats is a privilege."

To Pinkerton coach Katie Bourque, it's right where she belongs.

"It’s been set for quite some time," Bourque said. "The O’Reilly name is obviously a strong name for Pinkerton, and now Hannah, and her family’s last name, has left their own mark. She’s doing great things and deserves all the credit she is getting."

But in the fall, she'll be doing something different from all of those greats who came before her, including her brother, Jake, and sister, Lauren, who graduated in 2014 and 2020 and continued playing at UMass-Amherst and Georgetown University, respectively.

Before the start of the spring season, Lisauskas received an acceptance letter to the University of Notre Dame, not to play lacrosse, but to be a college student.

"I did the whole recruiting circuit and spent that whole summer before my junior year at showcases and doing all the things," she said. "Then Sept. 1 came, and I got some offers that I could have loved and could have pursued, and I would have been happy playing lacrosse there.

"There was always something deep inside of me wondering if,  could I go better and would I regret not trying to go better. I knew that I could challenge myself more somewhere else not playing lacrosse. That was always in the back of my mind. I think it was always an academic thing for me. I knew it could take me far and I didn’t want to limit myself."

Whenever the Astros are done this spring, Lisauskas will hang up her cleats for possibly the final time, leaving open the possibility of playing for Notre Dame's club team.

Or for being a part of other clubs, too, along with taking whatever classes or being involved in whatever activities she wants.

Actually, that was a part of the plan.

"I’m going to be a business major, specifically accounting," Lisauskas said. "Everyone in my family is in accounting, except for my sister, who is in marketing. On my tour, I heard about different clubs I could join, stuff that, if I did play, I wouldn’t have as much time for. Being able to study and work hard for academics, but also have the benefit and join the clubs that I want."

It was a decision that Lisaukas believes she came to a while ago, but once she voiced it to those around her, received the support from family, friends and teammates that she was hoping to get.

"I was surprised, because she has been playing her whole life, but she really made her mark in high school," Pinkerton junior Francesca Doyle said. "I think it was really hard for her. She’s super smart, so I’m not surprised she’s going to Notre Dame."

Bourque is glad to see Lisauskas going somewhere she believes she will be happy even if it means not playing lacrosse.

"I think she wanted to go for academics and go to a big school and have what the big school has to offer," she said. "Notre Dame just sold it when she got there. I think you’ve got to be happy wherever you go because you never know. To go somewhere she knows she loves the school, she loves the atmosphere, it has a good track record for academics, you can’t beat it."

Both Bourque and Lisauskas were in their first year with Pinkerton together in 2022, guiding the Astros to the Division I semifinals. That year, Lisauskas got to play alongside seniors like Seleny and Ali Lamphere, who helped the then-freshman learn what it meant to be a varsity player at Pinkerton.

"I was very lucky I found great chemistry with Caitlin Seleny and Ali Lamphere," Lisauskas said. "I feel like my game is a mesh of the two of them. Caitlin could feed the ball like no tomorrow and she had that chemistry with Ali. I had to find that chemistry. It’s such a big thing."

Lisauskas had that chemistry the previous two seasons with Hailey Schnider, who graduated last spring before heading to Merrimack College, and this year with Doyle.

"She has great IQ," Doyle said. "She always knows where we’re cutting and where our stick is all the time, and she always gets open. No matter where the defender’s stick is, she’s always right there."

And Lisauskas is the first one to celebrate after a teammate has scored, whether it's off one of her assists or not.

"She wants her teammates to do well and she wants the Pinkerton legacy to move on well after she is done here," Bouque said. "I think she holds them to a high standard so they can play to the best of their ability and hopefully grow similar to Hannah’s over four years."

Putting the points she has wouldn't be possible without all of those teammates over the years, according to Lisauskas.

"An assist only counts when your teammate scores," she said. "A lot of my goals have been assisted. My teammates are my biggest supporters and they believe in me and they trust me, along with Katie and my dad (Rich) on the sidelines.

"You can’t do it alone. My teammates have been nothing but supportive. I’m here to make them better, too. It’s a cool thing to be a part of this team and this program."