Six new faces added to MOC women's lacrosse team

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on July 23, 2013 2:15 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Second-year Mount Olive College head women's lacrosse coach Grant Kelam has started his recruiting for the 2014 season.

Kelam signed six defenders, including a pair of high school teammates -- Sade Allen and Nicholle Galletti. Allen, Galletti, Natalie Brust, Gina Fader and Holly Meyer each inked a national letter-of-intent to play for the Trojans. Transfer Kayla Mergl signed a grant-in-aid.

"This year's class of defenders is extremely athletic," said Kelam, who guided Mount Olive to a Conference Carolinas tournament berth this past spring in the Trojans' first year of women's lacrosse. "Many of them played midfield in high school as well as defense, giving them the stick skills they need for our up-tempo transition style."

Allen, who hails from Miami, Fla., played for the Barefoot Lacrosse club team. She tallied 30 goals during her two-year varsity career at Miami Killian HS.

Galletti was named the 2013 Dade County girls' lacrosse player-of-the-year and earned all-Dade County accolades for two consecutive seasons. She collected 87 goals and dished out 28 assists in her career.

Brust is native of Minnesota and collected 35 goals during her senior campaign at Centennial HS. She was a two-time All-Northwest Suburban Conference recipient and placed on the Honor Roll during each of her four years at Centennial.

Fader starred at Division Avenue (N.Y.) HS and set the school record for most goals scored by a defender, most steals/caused turnovers in a season and most draw-control wins in a single game. She received the Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Foundation Scholarship for academic excellence, outstanding athletic achievement and community service.

Meyer, from Cypress, Texas, tallied 21 goals and 12 assists during her senior season at Cy-Fair HS. She earned U.S. Lacrosse All-Academic honors during her junior and senior years, and was a member of the school's National Honor Society.

A sophomore from Sayville, N.Y., Mergl played and started in all 16 games for Queens College (N.Y.) this past spring. She tallied 26 ground balls, 14 caused turnovers and 13 draw controls.

Mount Olive finished 9-8 overall in its inaugural season.