By Dan Nowak

The final tally is in, and the Hand girls’ lacrosse team couldn’t be happier with the results.

Entering this season, Hand captains Hannah Morgan, Lauren Oswald and Carly Floyd decided to create a day-long fundraising activity that would raise money for the National Kidney Foundation.

On May 7, the Tigers hosted the “Lax for the Cure” event with their freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams competing in games against Conard. Following the games, the Tigers’ varsity players were joined by over 30 area youth players in an exhibition game with the youth players donating $20 each to play in the game.

The goal before the event was to raise $1,000 for the National Kidney Foundation, a charity selected to honor Hand coach Kevin Siedlecki, who received a kidney transplant at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 2006.

The Tigers, with some unexpected help from the Guilford High team, far exceeded their expectations and raised over $2,000 for the cause.

“We thought if we could raise $1,000 for the National Kidney Foundation, that would be great,” Morgan said. “To double that is outstanding. It was great to have the girls’ lacrosse community in Madison unite for this event.

“As varsity players, we are thankful for the great youth coaching that we received when we were younger. Seeing the little laxers out on the turf, playing as hard as they could, made us all reflect back on our entire lacrosse experience in Madison. For us, the “Lax with Varsity” game was also a thank you to everyone who has helped us along the way.”

The May 7 event, combining the youth player registrations, goodwill donations at the gate and from the community, raffles, T-shirt sales and concession sales, raised just over $1,800. But on May 9, when the Tigers arrived for a Southern Connecticut Conference varsity game at Guilford, the Hand girls learned that Guilford captains Dara Davis, Ellen Kebabian and Abby Sullivan planned a 50-50 raffle for the game, with the proceeds going to Hand’s “Lax for a Cure.” The raffle raised $200, pushing the final amount over $2,000.

“We were all touched by Guilford’s generosity,” Morgan said. “But I wasn’t surprised that they would do something like that. Carly, Lauren and I have played lacrosse year-round with Ellen, Sully and Dara since we were in middle school with the Nor’easter club. So, while we are very competitive on the field, we are friends off of it. They are quality girls.”

The thunderstorm, which delayed the completion of the varsity game and the start of the “Lax with Varsity” game, didn’t dampen anyone’s fun in the day-long event according to Elizabeth Morgan, Hannah Morgan’s mom, who helped coordinate the event. Continued...

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“All three Hand teams came on the field in green tie-dyed socks (green is the ribbon color for kidney disease and organ donation),” Elizabeth Morgan said. “Linda Zuboff of the National Kidney Foundation was there, had a great time and said it was an amazing day.”

The Conard freshmen defeated the Hand freshmen but the Tigers’ junior varsity team came away with a win in their game with Conard. In the varsity game, Conard was leading 2-1 when lightning delayed the game. Hand came back to win the game 12-7 behind three goals apiece by Morgan, Marykate McNulty and Kara McHugh. Morgan scored her 100th career goal in the game.

In the exhibition game, fourth-grader Morgan Lipford passed to Hand varisty player Christy Forrest, who scored with 10 seconds left to lead the White Team to an 8-7 win over the Black Team.

“Plans are already under way to hold the ‘Lax for the Cure’ event next year and make it an annual event,” Elizabeth Morgan said.

SCC TOURNAMENTS

The boys’ and girls’ SCC tournaments will begin on Monday with quarterfinals at the site of the higher seeds with game times to be determined.

The only thing known for sure at this time is Fairfield Prep will be the boys’ No. 1 seed and Hand will be the No. 1 seed for the girls. Seeds 2-8 are up for grabs with SCC games yet to be played to determine final regular-season records.

The boys’ semifinals will be May 25 at Branford High at 4 and 6 p.m. The girls’ semifinals will be May 25 at Hamden High at 4 and 6 p.m. Both finals will be at Branford on May 27 with the girls’ final at 4 p.m. and the boys’ final at 6.

Dan Nowak can be reached at dnowak@nhregister.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @NHRLACROSSE. To receive breaking sports news first — simply text the word “nhsports” to 22700. Standard msg+data rates may apply.

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