On Tuesday, May 20, 2025, the Morgan girl’s lacrosse team hosted the Old Saybrook Rams at the Indian River Turf for Senior Night. There were three seniors on the team this season being celebrated, Cora Dunham, Lili Luciani, and Gabi Navarra. Though the Huskies lost 9-6, it was still a great night of celebration for the seniors. 

They now think back on their journey with the team and all have unique stories to share. For all three, a common theme among their feelings is that the lacrosse team has given them friends and family they will cherish way beyond the last time they step on the field for the last time as a Morgan Husky.

Cora Dunham

Dunham started playing lacrosse in fourth grade, playing on an older team with her older sister Iris. She played for one more year with a younger team and then stopped playing after that because there was no longer a team in Clinton Youth Lacrosse for her age group at the time. 

Her freshman year, she decided to join the Morgan lacrosse team, as she wanted to be on a team with her older sister. She has been an important part of the midfield lineup the past few years on both the defensive and offensive end. 

Sports are known for bringing people together and making connections. Dunham said, “I’ve made a lot of friends through all of my sports but especially lacrosse, and going to say goodbye is going to be very hard, especially since it is the end of the year and the last sports season.” 

After graduating, she will be attending the University of New England in Maine and will be majoring in athletic training. 

Lili Luciani

Though Luciani played both soccer and basketball her freshman year, it wasn’t til her sophomore year that she joined the lacrosse team. “I joined in my sophomore year because I wanted to stay in shape and wasn’t doing club soccer in the spring that year. I also had a couple of friends who really wanted me to join,” said Luciani.

This year, she was also a tri-captain for all three sports. She helped lead her team to both the soccer and basketball Shoreline and State championships.

Coming into this spring season, she was out of play due to injuring her knee at the end of the basketball season. She was finally cleared after a few months and was able to come back and play for four games but unfortunately re-injured herself in a game and has not been able to come back on the field as a player but has stepped up her role as captain on a different side of the field by supporting them throughout the season. 

 “The most important thing I’ve learned from being injured is to stay positive. There have definitely been some times when I wanted to give up on things, but having a positive attitude has made things a lot easier for me. I couldn’t play in my state championship for basketball, and then I did so much to play lacrosse again, and then I got hurt after only four games. It was super frustrating, and I was just really mad that this had to be my senior year,” Luciani said. 

For Luciani, known by “Luc” to almost everyone around her, she has made some of her best friends through sports. “I’m going to miss being a part of a team most. I feel like my whole identity has been being a part of a team, so it’s definitely going to be an adjustment. I’m also going to miss all my underclassmen friends that I’ve made from sports.

In the fall, she will be attending Villanova University and will be following her passion for engineering and majoring in civil engineering. 

Gabi Navarra

Navarra made a decision this spring season to do something totally out of her comfort zone by deciding to join the Morgan lacrosse team this spring. For her first three years of high school in the spring, she was a part of the track team. After having surgery for her torn meniscus from the previous soccer season, she knew she would not be able to participate in the outdoor season like she had hoped, so she switched her plans. 

“Originally, I was just going to be the manager, but I actually ended up joining the team. Since then, I have been cleared and have played in a few games. It was the best decision, especially since I have friends now that I probably would not be as close with if I had not joined the team,” said Navarra.

Lacrosse was a sport that she had known not very much about and had never played before, so she had to learn from scratch this season, from the help of her teammates and coaches, also while getting over her injury: “I wasn’t the only upperclassman who had never played before this season so it made it easier that I wasn’t the only one,” Navarra said.

Her injury has had a great impact on her this year. She said, “It changed my perspective, and I learned to never take anything for granted, and that it can all go away within a second. I learned to enjoy the moment, and be grateful for where I am at the time, and that I can’t change the past, so I should look to the future.”

The first two weeks were extremely difficult for her. “I was stuck on crutches, I could barely walk, I couldn’t do the things I enjoyed doing as much, like going out with my friends or even driving. I felt like my freedom had been taken away.” Over the past four years of her high school career, she learned to look at everything positively and that looking down on herself and her injury wasn’t worth it, and to live life the way she wants.

For Navarra, she is going to miss most the family aspect of the teams. “It’s so nice having people you can fall back on, people who are surrounding me and also meeting some of her best friends through her sports,” she said.

After high school, she will go to the University of Rhode Island and majoring in kinesiology.