Quaker Valley junior Meredith Fallgren landed an early Christmas present last December.
Fallgren is a midfielder/defender on the QV girls lacrosse team who four months ago made an early commitment to continue her academic and athletic careers at Christopher Newport University, located in Newport News, Va.
“CNU was the first school I visited. After being there, I kept comparing the other schools I visited against it. It always just stood out to me,” said Fallgren, 17. “CNU plays a very challenging schedule, and they often are in the DIII NCAA Tournament. I was impressed by how hard they work playing that schedule. In addition, CNU is bigger than other schools I looked at, has great academics and offers a lot of majors. It is also beautiful and near the beach.
“Coach Lisa Valentine at CNU puts a lot of work into creating a healthy and positive team environment. They really look after the well-being of their athletes. On top of that, they are also competitive and work hard. I began talking to coach Valentine in June and committed this past December. I just felt ready at that point to make my decision. After my second visit there, I knew it was where I was meant to go.”
QV coach Laura Peery believes Fallgren is well-suited for CNU lacrosse.
“I’m really excited for Meredith. I think this will be a great fit for her,” Peery said. “Meredith is very excited about the opportunity, and I’m sure she’ll have a great career there. She is one of the hardest workers on the field, and I think she will excel anywhere she goes.
“Meredith is extremely coachable; she picks up new skills and concepts quickly. She’s extremely fast and hustles all over the field. She is a coach’s dream player.”
Fallgren began playing lacrosse at an early age and has participated in several sports in her athletic career.
“I have been playing lacrosse since first grade,” she said. “I was not sure at first if I liked it but fell in love with lacrosse the more I played defense. I play defense for my club team and will play defense in college.
“I played a variety of sports through middle school and played one year of soccer in high school before deciding to focus on lacrosse exclusively. I was always told that because I am small, I need to be strong. I put a lot of work in with a trainer year-round now.”
The 5-foot-2 Fallgren has a 4.06 weighted and 3.94 unweighted GPA. She is involved in the Key Club and student council and serves as secretary of the Letters of Love club. She is a two-time all-section selection in lacrosse, going from an honorable mention choice as a freshman to second team status as a sophomore.
For her college major, Fallgren is looking for a combination of business and sports management.
She will join another player from Western Pennsylvania at CNU, Mt. Lebanon graduate Kate Lamendola, a sophomore midfielder.
Fallgren’s brother Gavin is a freshman catcher on the John Carroll baseball team.
He was a three-year varsity letterman on the QV baseball team; he also served as a team captain. He graduated from high school with high honors and is majoring in sports leadership and psychology in college.
QV’s girls lacrosse team improved to 5-4 with a rousing 18-3 section win April 28 against Knoch on senior rec night.
Lucy Roig racked up four goals and two assists and Kate Miller had two goals and five assists for the Quakers. Alexa Westwood contributed four goals, Leasia Karto had a goal and three assists, while Mia Floro and Anna Campbell added a goal and an assist apiece.
Nora Hammond (D/M), Ruby Krotine (A), Lily Pulkowski (D), Emily Reiner (GK) and Grace Wiehe (D/A) were honored.
Reiner and Krotine are serving as QV co-captains along with three juniors, Roig (M), Westwood (M/A) and Fallgren.
“We started our season against South Fayette and Mars who are both very strong,” Fallgren said. “I think since we started off playing difficult teams, we’ve been able to learn, and I think it set us up well for the rest of the season.
“I am proud of my team and how we have worked together this year. We are a tight-knit team, and I think that helps us out on the field.”
The Quakers will play rival Sewickley Academy on May 5 at Nichols Field.
“I think we are starting to hit our stride,” Peery said. “We have fought through a few tough games but are really starting to jell.”