Varsity Q&A: C. Milton Wright girls lacrosse senior Shelby Sullivan passes 200 career goals

C. Milton Wright senior and Maryland commit Shelby Sullivan talks about eclipsing 200 career goals and her team's playoff aspirations.

Faye Brust sent her star senior a text a couple days before, thinking that she might have been inching close. Shelby Sullivan confirmed it with her dad, who keeps the stats for C. Milton Wright girls lacrosse, and the team manager. So it was in the back of her head going into the Mustangs’ April 23 game against Urbana.

Sullivan, a Maryland signee, entered that game with 198 goals and on an 8-meter rocket eclipsed the 200-mark for her high school career. Brust called a timeout to save the ball and hold court for a mini in-game celebration. She finished the regular season with 222.

“It was hard to comprehend at first because we were in a close game,” Sullivan said. “I was really locked in and I didn’t even realize. But she called the timeout and that made the game more exciting. My teammates were really supportive too.”

Sullivan recently spoke to The Aegis about the milestone and reflecting on her lacrosse career. (Editor’s note: some questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity):

What would freshman Shelby say if you told her you’d reach this mark?

She would be really impressed. Like, that’s a big accomplishment. Last year, when I got to 100, I was super excited. The fact that I was able to get to 200 this year, it’s just really awesome. … I’m glad I was able to make such a huge impact on our team.

Of the 200, do you have a favorite goal from your high school career?

I don’t have specifically a favorite goal. But the one goal that I always count on in most games, I will do like a face dodge from the top, and then shoot a side arm. Like a low shot, but I don’t have like a great angle. My teammates know that I’ll always do a face dodge and then drive to the right so they’ll clear through for that drive. But then some teams know that I always do that drive so I’ll switch it up and go left sometimes. That’s like the main shot that I normally take. I’ve trained some girls and I try to teach them that too because once I learned that in high school, it’s really helped me out.

Taking a moment to reflect on your high school career, what do you feel like is the most lasting lesson you’ve learned?

I know when I was younger, my confidence wasn’t super high when I first started playing. Once I joined a club team, I had to learn, once you make a mistake, you just have to keep going. My coaches always told me, ‘Don’t dwell on your mistakes. Keep pushing through, keep shooting.’ Because if you’re down off of one mistake, you’re going to be down the rest of the game. That’s what I tell my teammates all the time. Like they mess up one time, and they’re upset. But I’m like, ‘Just keep going, keep shooting. If you mess up, just re-defend, If you miss a shot, just keep going.’ Because that’s what helped me through my career so far.

How do you feel like your game has evolved and how would you describe yourself now as a lacrosse player?

I feel like when I was younger, I was just getting the gist of lacrosse. But now that I’ve gotten older, my lax IQ has gotten so much stronger. I’ve really been able to understand the field and work with my teammates, and create opportunities for both myself and my teammates.

With playoffs starting, and coming off a state semifinal run last year, what will be the key for your team to make another deep postseason run?

I think we just really have to work together and bring the energy for sure. We had one [loss] against Bel Air this season and right off the bat from warm ups, you could kind of tell that everyone was pretty down and we didn’t have a ton of energy. I think before the game, we just need to like hype ourselves up. And then from warmups to the game, we really need to have a ton of energy because that’s what helps our team. For our team, when we have fun is when we play our best. So when we’re celebrating after every goal and hyping each other up, it really helps us out.

You signed to play at Maryland since the beginning of your junior year. What was the recruitment process like and what ultimately helped you make that decision?

I didn’t have a dream school, necessarily. But we had someone that helped us through my club team talk to the coaches for us while we couldn’t talk to them, because Sept. 1 is the date that you can. His name is Dan Gallagher. He really helped me through that. Once it hit Sept. 1, I got a ton of emails and texts and calls. My parents really helped me space out the calls and try to answer everyone and talk to as many coaches as I could so that I could keep my options really open. I went on five visits [to James Madison, Virginia Tech, Loyola and Ohio State]. Maryland was my last visit. And once I was on campus, and after I had talked to the coaches in my meeting, I just really felt like I wanted to go there.

How cool was that moment being able to commit on the spot?

It was actually such a cool feeling. I normally don’t cry at all. But once the coaches had offered me, I just looked at my mom and I was like, ‘Can I commit?’ The coaches were sitting right across from me and then I just started crying. I guess I didn’t really know what else to do. It was such a weight off my chest. But it was so awesome. Like that feeling, I was just really excited.