Britt Douglass: Lacrosse is Not Just About Scoring Goals

Avon High rising sophomore Britt Douglass, a preternaturally gifted midfielder on the Falcons’ girls lacrosse team, scored goals in bunches during a freshman campaign that ended in late May.

But don’t ask her how many times she scored; she doesn’t know.

A refreshing throwback to an era when players just, well, played, Douglass is more concerned with winning games than she is how many times she found the back of the cage or how many ground balls she picked up.

“I don’t really pay attention to stats,” the shy Douglass said in a recent telephone interview. “I just go out and play.”

It’s a quality that both impresses and exasperates her mother, Alina, whose questions about the games that she could not attend are met with few details.

“I’ll ask her how many goals she scored and she’ll say, ‘I don’t know,’” Alina Douglass said. “I’ll say, ‘How do you not know?!’”

Individual numbers may not be readily available, but there are other ways to measure just how successful Britt’s year has been.

She was named All-NCCC in June after her rebuilding Falcons finished 6-10, a misleading record considering that two of the losses were forfeited victories.

Since then, Britt’s summer has been filled with All-Star camps and competitions.

She represented New England in the Brine Lacrosse All-American Classic in Maryland from July 5 through 8.

With Britt’s help, New England placed third out of 12 teams, advancing to the semifinals before falling to Maryland.

“I was excited,” Britt said of the honor of being selected to play in the tournament. “It was a good experience to play with some of the best players from around the country.”

Most recently, Britt was one of 210 kids who played at the Maximum Exposure recruiting camp for rising sophomores, where she was selected to one of the All-Star teams.

Though she played attack in the All-Star game, Britt said that she is most comfortable playing midfield, where she both can score goals and also help out on defense.

“I like to play both positions,” Britt said. “I like to run a lot.”

Britt’s love of lacrosse started when she took in clinic in third grade and playing as a fourth-grader in the youth lacrosse system in Avon.

“I love the speed of the game and competition,” Britt said. “I like how it’s fast and you have so many moves you can do. It’s really competitive.”

All evidence points to Britt being able to achieve her three biggest goals: to earn All-State accolades by the end of her junior year; to be named All-American by the end of her high school career; and to play Division I lacrosse in college.

“I just want to play as well as I can and get better as a player,” Britt said.

And while Britt’s mother has difficulty getting information about Britt’s performance on the field, she has no trouble finding out the most important stat of all: Britt’s grade point average, a lofty 3.67, good enough for high honors at Avon High.

Still, much as she would like to, Alina doesn’t take any credit for her daughter’s prowess on the field or in the classroom, asking only that Britt try her best in her endeavors.

“It’s just innate,” Alina said of Britt’s drive. “She just has this love of learning. ... The pressure does not come from home. She’s quite an overachiever.”