'Best friends' Leahy and Vetter celebrate scoring milestones with STA girls lacrosse program

DOVER - Milestones are to be celebrated in sports, and the St. Thomas Aquinas girls lacrosse program has had a couple to celebrate in recent weeks.

Junior Megan Leahy recently reached the 200-point career scoring benchmark, and shortly after Leahy's accomplishment, fellow junior Cat Vetter reached the 100-point milestone.

Both Leahy and Vetter have been instrumental in St. Thomas' 12-1 start to the season. The Saints, with just one game left in the regular season, are tied with Bow with the best record in Division III.

"It's been huge for the program," St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Jill Carroll said on both players reaching the milestones in the same season. "Very well-deserved and they both work very, very hard. So, well-deserved, but kind of fun to watch both juniors hit milestones within the same couple of weeks."

Leahy reached her 200-point milestone in STA's 16-10 loss to Gilford on May 1, scoring three goals. Vetter reached 100 on Monday in a 17-6 win at Laconia.

"(Leahy) and I are best friends, we work incredible together," Vetter said. "She's always there for me, and I'm always there for her. I couldn't have asked for a better person to help me. I was happy I could help her reach her, and she could help me reach mine."

Just as Leahy assisted on Vetter's 100th point, Vetter assisted on Leahy's 200th.

Leahy posting incredible scoring outputs

Although in the game Leahy reached 200 career points, her three goals could be looked at as a low scoring output considering a lot of the spectacular and high-scoring showcases she's put together this season.

Leahy had eight goals in a 22-10 win over Trinity, seven in a 21-16 win over Lebanon, six in a 27-11 win over Kearsage and five in a 10-9 win over Derryfield.

Leahy reached the 100-point mark before the end of last season, and currently has 267 points; 175 goals and 92 assists.

"I'm really happy to hit (200 points)," Leahy said. "It feels great because I feel like it was more of a team effort. I pass the ball to them and get all my assists from them; hitting that mark, it's crazy, just amazing."

Leahy added, "it was kind of a surprise after the game. I had no idea that I hit it until a couple of days after," she said. "Then I was like '(wow), I just hit 200,' I was shocked."

Carroll said it's a huge accomplishment for Leahy and it's well deserved.

"She's had two and a half years to hit that mark," Carroll said. "She's well over (200) now, which is awesome. I know she has a couple of goals in mind before she graduates, so that was a big one for her to hit."

Carroll said the next target for Leahy is 200 goals which she more than likely will reach next season.

Leahy shouted out her teammates in her reaching these milestones.

"A lot of my goals come from me either cutting, or a girl cutting or a girl cutting before me and me finding the lane," Leahy described. "A lot of it is team goals, so someone is passing me the ball or it's off of an assist, so when I score the team scores."

Vetter's versatility paying off

Vetter started her career as a defender and made the transition to a midfielder last season. Vetter still plays defense on occasion, but now she's increased her impact on both sides of the ball.

Vetter scored a season-high seven goals in the Saints' 23-4 win against Plymouth in STA's second game of the season. She currently has 110 points; 65 goals and 45 assists.

"It was a pretty cool feeling, it's something that I always looked up to as a little girl," Vetter said on reaching 100 points. "To see some of my friends' older sisters and my friends hit it my freshman year and sophomore year, it's something I've always looked up to. I'm looking forward to some of my teammates hitting it soon as well."

"She's a phenomenal player, and it's been fun we've coached her since her freshman year to see her hit this milestone," Carroll said. "She's just improved tremendously year over year. So to see her reach that, it's been awesome."

Vetter's teammates were keeping track of her points as she got closer to reaching 100.

"It was pretty cool," Carroll said. "The entire team was counting down every time she got one. It was pretty cool that the team went wild."

"It just made the team want to win more, we wanted to do it for each other and not only me," Vetter said. "We had all been looking forward to that game because we knew it was going to be a hard game. We worked hard defensively and offensively, and it just motivated the team more."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Leahy, Vetter reach St. Thomas Aquinas girls lacrosse milestones