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Injury can't stop Brown-bound Caro

Thursday, April, 03 By David Willis
Staff writer

Katelyn Caro knew something was wrong.

"During one of our playoff games my freshman season I collided with another player while on defense," she said. "I still had my hands on my stick, so I landed really hard on my shoulder. But I continued to play, and played the following game, which probably wasn't smart."

After the season, she received the bad news. She had a partial dislocation of her right shoulder, along with bone chips in the shoulder. The injury required surgery, and she missed her sophomore year of soccer, basketball and lacrosse.

"Missing an entire year would derail a lot of kids," Andover lacrosse coach John McVeigh said. "It was a serious injury."

But Caro did not give up. She returned to soccer her junior season, then elected to forgo basketball to prepare for lacrosse.

"I did plenty of lifting and running and going to an indoor lacrosse facility," Caro said. "When I was cleared by doctors I really worked hard to get back into lacrosse shape."

McVeigh then threw her a curveball once the season began, moving her from defense, which she played as a freshman, to the offensive-minded attack.

"I was a little caught off guard because it was a new position," she said. "I didn't quite know where I fit in."

But it didn't take Caro long to find her way. She finished the season third on the Golden Warriors in goals (34) and assists (24), only behind Northwestern recruit Rachel Fox and UMass Amherst-bound Briana Gross, both seniors last year.

"I fell in love with offense," she said. "Lacrosse is a sport that is very geared towards offense, so it is very difficult to stop people from scoring. When you can get by a defender and score a goal or get off a good shot, it is such a rush."

Caro's skills have not gone unnoticed. Over the summer she signed on to play Division 1 lacrosse at Brown University.

"They first contacted me my sophomore year," she said. "I took a long time to think about it because I was looking for a school that fit me both as a student and as an athlete. I met with the coaches and went to their camp during the summer. They said they were interested, and I committed in July."