During her freshman season at Kenyon College, Concord’s Jane Symmes was named the North Coast Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year and helped Kenyon win the 2013 conference championship. Four years later, Symmes finished her college career by winning the NCAC Player of the Year award.
“It’s great to end my career on such a positive note,” said Symmes, who led Concord High to an undefeated, Division I championship campaign in 2012. “This season was great, but it’s always exciting to be recognized for such a long career.”
Symmes, a midfielder, led the NCAC in groundballs per game (4.43) and caused turnovers per game (2.71) this season. She was also ranked in the conference top five for goals per game (3.36), assists per game (1.36), points per game (4.71), draw controls per game (5.50) and game-winning goals (three). Despite missing all of her sophomore year with a knee injury, Symmes will leave Kenyon as the all-time leader in career draw controls (277), second in career assists (47) and sixth in career goals (141) and points (188).
“The conference has the utmost respect for (Symmes),” Kenyon Coach Meredith Buzzi said. “They tried and tried to stop her, or even slow her down, all season, and they just couldn’t.”
Symmes was named the NCAC Player of the Year on Wednesday and two days later she was named one of 16 named to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association All-Great Lakes Region First Team, along with Kenyon teammate Kat Englert. Those two led Kenyon to a 10-4 mark and paced an offense that averaged 14.57 goals per game, 16th best in all of Division III. It was the third time Symmes was named to the IWLCA team.
She is the kind of player coaches love – versatile and willing to do it all. Buzzi said she had never coached anyone with such a wide range of elite skills, “not to her level, not by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Her will to go to goal and pick up those ground balls and get the ball back for her team was impressive to watch for four years,” Buzzi said.
Symmes actually injured herself while playing soccer for Kenyon. She didn’t play her freshman year, but she missed the pitch and went out for the team the next season, which is when she tore her ACL. She was still rehabbing that injury, and spending a semester abroad in Chile, during the fall of her junior year, so she also missed that soccer season. But she was back at it this fall, starting 15 of 17 games as a midfielder for 11-7-1 Kenyon.
Her final college lacrosse game was, naturally, one to remember. Symmes scored six goals and won seven draw controls as Kenyon beat Hiram, 20-3, on April 27.
“We knew it was going to be our last game, so I was just trying to have fun with it,” Symmes said. “It was such a great team with a lot of great friends of mine on it, so I think we were all just trying to have fun and enjoy the game for what it is with a team with love to play on.”
Symmes loved her experience in Chile, as well, and she’s currently interviewing for a job with the Global Fund for Women in San Francisco that would have her working in the Latin American and Caribbean department. She’s also an accomplished musician – she put out a CD while she was at Concord High – and will devote a little extra time to that passion now that school and sports are finished.
“Eventually I could see myself doing something with lacrosse again,” Symmes said, “but I think for right now I’m going to take a break and try something that doesn’t involve sports and see where that takes me.”
“She’s a phenomenal lacrosse player and a phenomenal person,” Buzzi said. “I think she is going to do amazing things for women all around this globe with her current career trajectory.”
Concord’s Maddie Crutchfield, a St. Paul’s School graduate and now a sophomore at Duke, was a First Team All-ACC pick after leading the Blue Devils in assists (20) and caused turnovers (18) and finishing second on the team in ground balls (35).
Crutchfield was also a nominee for the Tewaaraton Award, given to the top male and female college lacrosse players in the country. She made the cut down to the final 25 candidates but wasn’t included when that field was narrowed to five this weekend. The award will be presented on June 2 at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Duke’s season also came to end this weekend as the No. 12 Blue Devils (11-9) lost to No. 3 North Carolina, 15-10, in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday. Crutchfield had one assist against the Tar Heels. Duke beat Loyola, 14-8, in Friday’s first round NCAA matchup.
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or at tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20)