Athletes of the Week: SHP’s Kat Dykes and Maggie Goldstein

Dykes and Goldstein have been named Daily Journal Athletes of the Week for navigating SHP’s toughest week yet. With three games in four days, the Gators posted a 3-0 record, including two straight wins over a pair of tough customers in St. Ignatius and rival Menlo School to open WBAL Foothill Division play.

“Since the season started, the emphasis was to get a CCS championship,” Dykes said, “and I think we’re all super dialed in to that. And I think these wins have kind of catalyzed that.”

Lacrosse has a short history in the Central Coast Section. The first CCS girls’ lacrosse tournament was held in 2021, with the Gators reaching the finals all three years. They even claimed the historic title in the tourney’s inaugural season. Since then, however, St. Ignatius has emerged as quite the foil, knocking off SHP in the CCS championship game in consecutive years.

The two CCS frontrunners have had some memorable battles in that time. SHP earned its first win ever against St. Ignatius last year during the regular season, a 10-9 comeback victory in overtime. This year’s WBAL opener was another overtime battle, with the Gators prevailing by the same score, 10-9, on a game-ending goal by sophomore Skylar Schramm in sudden-death overtime.

“SI and Sacred Heart has always been a rivalry in lacrosse since we’ve been following it, so I feel like there was always that pressure to perform and will to perform,” Goldstein said, “and I feel like I was motivated by that.”

The difference this year is SHP never trailed in the game. It’s a different perspective than the one the Gators have known the past couple years, constantly looking up at St. Ignatius. And it’s the freshmen who have been fueling the fire.

“They are just high-energy competitors,” SHP head coach Wendy Kridel said. “They want to go, they want to get reps, they don’t make excuses. They want to compete.”

Dykes led the Gators with four goals against St. Ignatius, while Goldstein scored two. Their respective performances only got better from there. In last Friday’s 16-9 win at Menlo School, Dykes scored a game-high five goals, while Goldstein added two more. And in Saturday’s non-league 14-10 win at reigning North Coast Section Division II champion Tamalpais-Mill Valley, Dykes led the way with six goals, with Goldstein tallying another two.

The win over Tamalpais also capped off a crazy week on and off the field for SHP. With the campus celebrating its spirit week, Dykes, Goldstein and the rest of the freshman class got their first taste of the fun but exhausting school schedule that had them playing novelty intramural sports by day, and their most competitive stretch of varsity games by night.

“So the fact that they were on full tilt at school all week, plus three games, with travel to Marin, and beating SI … I told them this is the hardest week of the season,” Kridel said. “... There’s a lot asked of them, and for these youngsters, they’re just winners. They don’t quit.”

The don’t-quit attitude served the team well Saturday, when the Gators faced an early wakeup call and a long drive over the Golden Gate Bridge.

“We were all exhausted,” Dykes said. “We had a super long week. But I feel like everyone was very pumped up for the game because you kind of take the whole car ride to start preparing mentally. And everyone was super excited. … I thought the spirits for Saturday were surprisingly high.”

Dykes and Goldstein first met in fifth grade when they starting playing on the summer club circuit with STEPS Lacrosse. A good portion of the current SHP roster has played together for either STEPS, or at some other step along the way with local youth lacrosse teams, such as Goldstein with Firehawks Lacrosse, or Dykes with Coyotes Lacrosse Club.

The Gators had plenty continuity last season as well. Kridel is not shy about starting freshmen, and had four of them in the 2023 starting lineup in Schramm, Olivia Abbott, Lily Selcher and Katie Pepper. Ella Caplice would have seen more playing time at goalkeeper if not for last year’s senior standout Lauren Hall. With Hall graduating, Caplice took over in goal this season as a sophomore.

“Combined, my freshman and sophomore class together are quite dynamic,” Kridel said, “and I think they’re going to just keep getting better and better.”

While is hasn’t necessarily been easy for the Gators, they have made it look that way at times. That’s perhaps the nuance that sets this year’s team apart. While they play a nonstop, high-energy brand of lacrosse, they know — while it isn’t always easy — how to take it easy. And it has become quite a team strength.

“I feel like I was expecting it to be a little more new and more difficult than it actually was,” Goldstein said. “But because we had that chemistry with the other players on the field … you just have that calm.”