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06/07/2019 12:00 AMAnnie Uyeki recently completed an excellent career with the North Haven girls’ lacrosse squad that saw her win the Indians’ Most Valuable Player Award in each of the past two seasons. Annie, who led the team as a senior captain this year, scored 214 goals to go with 76 assists during her high school career. In addition to her MVP honors, Annie garnered All-SCC Second Team distinction in her junior and senior seasons and also made the All-State Second Team as a junior.
“It’s always really nice to see your work pay off. Seeing success and having your hard work recognized is nice,” Annie says. “We may not have always been the most successful team, but it’s cool to see the growth in my four years. My points and accolades increased, and each year was a different milestone for the team, so that was cool to see that impact.”
Annie helped the Indians rise up the ranks throughout her tenure with the team. Last spring, North Haven set a program record for victories by going 11-7, while winning a division title, making the SCC Tournament for the first time, and qualifying for the Class M State Tournament for the fourth-straight campaign.
After primarily playing on the attack in her junior year, Annie saw her fair share of time in the midfield this season. Annie netted 74 goals and handed out 35 assists for North Haven as a senior.
“As I got older, it became more apparent that my skills were more suited for the offensive end, but because of personnel, I ended up playing both sides this year,” says Annie. “It’s always an incentive to score goals and contribute to the team in that way. It’s really fun to make a combination play. There’s no better feeling than a great pass to a teammate that scores a beautiful goal.”
Head Coach Lois Frankforter says that Annie’s skill set makes her one of the best players that she’s ever worked with. Frankforter also appreciates the attitude that Annie displayed while leading a rebuilding Indians’ squad this spring.
“Skill wise, Annie is one of the best players I’ve ever coached, but she brings those intangibles and qualities we like to see in a captain that makes the whole team better,” Frankforter says. “When Annie is on the field, she inspires everyone to raise their game. She inspires them to be the best they can by instilling confidence in them, so they’re up for whatever challenge. We moved to Division I this year, and we faced the stiffest competition in our division. We met those challenges admirably, and Annie was a big part of that.”
Annie says that every athlete in North Haven’s senior class provided strong leadership for the team. She feels the seniors did a great job of making sure that the Indians performed to their potential every day.
“We were able to hold everyone accountable. We decided before the season started that we wanted to bring a new level of intensity, and that started with our offseason strength and conditioning program,” Annie says. “We lucked out, because we were very like-minded, set goals, and did a good job of meeting them.”
Annie’s family has deep roots in lacrosse. Annie’s father John played the sport college, as did her three older brothers, Ian, Alec, and Colin. Annie will continue that trend when she competes for the women’s lacrosse team at Division III Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York next spring.
“I felt the Division III level was more well-suited for what I was looking for out of my college lacrosse experience. After I honed in on Division III, I was able to focus on specific schools, and that’s when Vassar got my attention,” says Annie. “I got lucky as things fell into place. I went to a clinic at Vassar and was very fortunate the coach wanted me to come play. Things lined up, so I have that great opportunity.”
With her high school career in the books, Annie feels proud that she helped North Haven girls’ lacrosse make such gigantic strides during these past four seasons.
“Our class has been able to change the culture of the program. I think entering my freshman year, there was a different vibe on the team than there is now,” says Annie. “We did a good job of getting people to buy in, and that makes all the difference. We had more wins, girls individually started to hold themselves to a higher standard, and it was kind of a trickle-down effect. We definitely saw that.”