Planting the Seeds of Greatness: How Ridgewood Girls Lacrosse Was Born

When Rita O’Connor’s girls wanted to play lacrosse, she was more than supportive. She not only purchased their equipment, but she gave them and the Village of Ridgewood a girls recreational lacrosse league. 

The year was 1995, and the RHS girls team was barely a year old. O’Connor's middle daughter Liz was a founding member–her first experience with organized lacrosse. Her youngest daughter Jacquie was in seventh grade and wanted to participate, but there was simply no venue for younger girls. At the time, the only youth lacrosse teams in the village were for boys.

So, O'Connor did what any supermom would do. She marched herself into a meeting full of coaches, and she asked them to help her start up a girls recreational league.

While no one turned down her idea, there was simply not enough money in the budget. The boys’ uniforms were costly and most of the fees they’d collected went to paying for referees and fields.

“I told them, ‘I’m serious about this...I’m going to do this,'" she said, reflecting back over 15 years.

While O'Connor didn’t find an immediate solution to her problem, she ended up partnering with someone who would help transform the budding sport into one of the nation's preeminent lacrosse feeder programs. Meet Mike McBride (both are alumni of Mt. Carmel Grammar School).

Then a coach of a fifth grade boys team, McBride also understood the need for a girls recreational league. His sons were playing lacrosse and his daughter Keri wanted in on the action. And with a new girls high school team in place–but no league to act as a feeder program–someone was going to have to get the ball rolling. McBride and his wife Beth Ann decided to join the cause. 

O'Connor and her daughters held “tryouts” to evaluate skills, attempting to create even teams with respect to ability. The new RHS girls team donated their time to explain the rules and run drills. Even Rita’s eldest daughter Christie remembers coming home from college and being asked to help out with practices. It was all-hands on deck. 

While insurance costs were covered by the pre-existing boys’ program, the pair still needed to find a way to pay for pinnies, field usage and referees. Bake sales and small fundraisers were had to come up with the money and parents were only responsible for sticks, mouth guards and a nominal application fee. (The fancy metal goggles used nowadays were not required.) 

O'Connor reflected on the joys and less joyous logistical strains.

“The rules of girls’ lacrosse are different from those of the boys," she said. "Very few people knew how to teach girls’ lacrosse. A lot of the first coaches didn’t even have children in the program. Actually, one of the great things about the games was that there weren’t any typical 'little league' parents because nobody knew the rules!”

Beyond that, she said, it was a monumental challenge even finding referees familiar with the girls' game. It was a learning process for all involved. 

In the mid-1990s only two or three other Bergen County towns had recreational teams. When Ridgewood girls weren’t playing against each other at Ben Franklin, Maple or Citizens Fields, Rita and her coaches organized out-of-town games.

They rounded the girls together and traveled to places like Suffern, Chatham and Summit, picking up competition and experience wherever they could. 

“We had four teams and a total of about 80 seventh and eighth grade girls assembled on Citizens Field," McBride said, remembering the first opening day.

"We were determined to make it happen. That morning I knocked on the door of my neighbor and friend Mary Raiser, who knew girls lacrosse well. I handed her a hat and a whistle and told her, ‘Okay, you’re in charge today.’ The rest is history.”

Over the years, the program has grown in panache, popularity, and size, culminating with back-to-back state championships at the high school varsity level. Interest among the younger grades hasn't slowed either. 

Roger Widicus, current Director of the RLA Girls Program reported that the 2011 program drew 426 from grades three through eight playing on twenty-two teams. (The program also sponsors the Lady Maroons Lacrosse Camp, run by RHS Varsity Girls Head Coach Karla Mixon.) 

As for the McBride and O’Connor kids? Like many kids who went all the way through Ridgewood’s recreational and high school lacrosse programs, they continued to play.

All of McBride’s sons held the position of captain on their university teams. Michael played for Harvard (class of ‘05), Matt for Georgetown (class of ‘08), and Chris for Princeton (class of ‘11). His daughter Keri enjoyed a successful run at Georgetown (class of ‘03). 

The McBride’s yard boasts what has to be the highest backyard lacrosse net in Ridgewood. Mike put it there so his kids could practice hurling the ball with as much force as possible, unencumbered by fear of breaking something. It’s still there, remarkably intact, awaiting the arrival of lacrosse-loving grandchildren. 

O’Connor's daughter Jacquie played for Gettysburg College (class of 2004) and has worked for US Lacrosse, the sport's national governing body. Liz O’Connor-Henky played for The College of New Jersey (now TCNJ) and was All-American in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Liz spent seven seasons as the Head Varsity Girls’ Coach for IHA.

She and her sisters own Muskateer Lacrosse, a successful Glen Rock-based lacrosse camp which runs two sessions between June and July.