Girls Lacrosse: Notre Dame commit Angie Conley, sidelined last year, back to lead power-packed Hinsdale Central lineup

Last year was a tough lacrosse season for Hinsdale Central senior midfielder Angie Conley.

After finishing first-team all-state as a sophomore, an injury kept her sidelined in 2022. Conley could do nothing but watch the Red Devils advance all the way to the IHSA state title game, only to lose 12-11 in overtime to New Trier. At home, no less.

Yeah, it hurt. But that was then. This is now.

“It was really hard to watch them take second place,” Conley said after a recent 15-9 victory over Mead (Colorado). “We hadn’t taken [first] in about five years. It was really hard on my mental health. I’ve played a bunch of sports my whole life, varsity basketball and varsity lacrosse, so the mental game was really hard for me.

“But being back is such a blessing. You just take all those little things for granted, so I’m happy to be back.”

Conley, a Notre Dame recruit, undoubtedly is a key cog for the Red Devils this season, a player coach Matt McNiff said is like “having the advantage of an advanced coach on the field.”

Add Conley to a power-packed senior lineup that includes defenders Francesca Gick and Elisa Mann, who was second-team all-state a year ago, and attackers Emily Brankin, Reese Napier and Ari Tavoso and you get the impression that Hinsdale Central wants to mend its 2022 broken hearts.

In fact, that’s the team’s theme this year.

“Our goal is to heal our broken hearts together,” McNiff said. “We know we need to take it one game at a time. We know to take every opponent seriously, and we know that the only way to accomplish our goal is to do it together.”

While New Trier and Loyola traditionally have culled most of the Chicago-area lacrosse headlines over the years, you now can add Hinsdale Central to that list. That’s what happens when you win state in 2018 and are the runner-up two of the past three state tournaments, forgetting 2020, which was the season that got scratched because of the pandemic.

“I think here we have a really big culture with it, and each year, the bonding, we are all so close, it translates on the field and you can see it,” said Napier, an Arizona State commit.

How serious are the Red Devils? Informally, they begin their season in October, whereas other club teams start in December.

“We emphasize having a super-strong, long offseason,” said Tavoso, a Cal-Berkeley commit. “We start early, we get in there and get after it.”

Do seniors Conley and Napier think about their freshman season that was lost to the pandemic?

“All the time,” they reply.

“We were freshmen and we had some great captains and leaders to look up to,” Conley said. “Their influence was great on us. When COVID hit, it was really hard. That was our year to bounce back and win state.”

Again, that was then. The immediate future appears bright.

“It’s all about the chip on our shoulder and taking that one game at a time mentality,” Mann said. “Just trying to come out with fire each time. No matter who we play, we’re ready.”

“We’re working to June 3 and hopefully we’ll be in that championship and winning,” said Brankin, an all-state honorable mention last year. “We’re working hard every day.”