Milestone goal uplifting moment for Koutsos, Bishop Guertin girls lacrosse

Kerry D'Ambroise is getting familiar with how to handle a players hundredth goal during her tenure as the Bishop Guertin High School girls lacrosse coach.

Two players had already reached that milestone heading into the second week of the 2017 season, but with senior Olivia Koutsos approaching the mark - and the Cardinals set to play Pinkerton in a title-game rematch - D'Ambroise decided to handle it differently.

"She had no idea," D'Ambroise said. "I tried to keep that under wraps for her because I wanted her to keep her focus on just playing, especially in such a big game against Pinkerton."

Unlike classmate Kate Bradford, who knew all offseason that her first goal of the year would be her hundredth, Koutsos was kept in the dark and she was perfectly fine with that.

When she scored the goal in that 11-8 win over the Astros on April 21, she wasn't the only one who was surprised.

"I had a feeling that it was coming, sometime soon," Koutsos said. "I wasn't exactly sure. It was a nice surprise. My teammates were caught off-guard, too, but it was nice to have their support, and the support of the parents, too."

The Cardinals have needed the support of Koutsos and Bradford as they try to navigate the season with just three seniors on the roster. Both have were members of the varsity when Bishop Guertin won the Division I title in 2015 and fell short last year against Pinkerton.

But while Bradford is the more outgoing leader, Koutsos has provided Bishop Guertin with a lead-by-example approach.

"They're both great leaders," D'Ambroise said. "I think Olivia brings a lot of on-the-field leadership. She really shows exactly what should be done. It's good to have both of them because they have two different ways that kids can look up to."

While the Cardinals felt they needed time to adjust to a lot of new faces, it hasn't shown on the field, as they've gotten off to a 7-2 start that included the win over the Astros and a win over Andover (Mass.).

"Last year, we had four senior captains and I think four or five other seniors," Koutsos said. "We definitely looked up to that class a lot. Being a smaller senior class, it's about instilling confidence in the younger players and making sure they're comfortable, not only with us, but with each other to take the ball to the net and make bigger plays when we need them."

Koutsos, who plans to play at Brown University next year, feels her younger teammates have already made big strides, not just in how they play, but how they get along off the field. D'Ambroise thinks having two seniors as accomplished as Koutsos and Bradford helps with that.

"It's awesome for team unity, for both of them to hit it," D'Ambroise said. "They both work together really well and support each other on and off the field. I think it was huge for both of them to earn that."