Amelia Foster scored 30 goals for the Gray-New Gloucester/Poland 26ers girls lacrosse team this season. Submitted photo

For Amelia Foster, lacrosse season does not end after the final whistle blows in the final game. The Gray-New Gloucester/Poland junior said she has a love for the sport that also runs in her family.

“I am hoping to continue (playing) in college,” Foster said. “Lacrosse is my passion, and it’s a happy place for me; it truly is. It’s been a dream since I was a little kid to play lacrosse in college.”

Foster is one of three siblings, all of whom played for Gray-New Gloucester lacrosse teams, whether the Patriots or the 26ers co-op with Poland. Her brother, Mikey Foster, graduated in 2020, and her sister, Annabell Foster, graduated in 2022. Their father, Michael Foster, was a collegiate lacrosse player, which Amelia credits for inspiring her love for the sport.

“I used to do a lot of sports, but didn’t have the passion in those sports like I did for lacrosse,” Amelia Foster said. “Both my brother and my sister played, and my dad played till college, so I’ve been playing since I’ve been able to hold the stick.”

Foster’s passion and skill have translated to on-field production, and she has been chosen as the 2024 Sun Journal All-Region Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year.

The junior attack scored 30 goals, tallied five assists and four draw controls and picked up 32 ground balls for the 26ers. She bolstered the 26ers offense in several games, such as the May 7 matchup against Bonny Eagle when she scored five of Gray-NG/Poland’s 11 goals, or less than a week earlier when Foster notched a hat trick against Noble.

After the season, she was named to the All-Western Maine Conference team.

“My team and my success has really come from a confidence in my team and my team’s confidence in me,” Foster said. “We have so many amazing players that give so many options on the field, (especially) if one person may be shut down.

“It’s really nice to have those really amazing players as more options when you need it. We all had a really good dynamic this year.”

Another game that sticks out from this spring is Gray-NG/Poland’s regular season finale against Fryeburg Academy, when Foster scored six goals and the 26ers prevailed 10-7.

“It was a close game and the pressure was just on,” Foster said. “(Fryeburg) did amazing. We (also) really did amazing, we came together in our huddles, and it was the pressure of it being close, knowing that I needed to do something to be able to make us win and be able to have a comfortable distance between our goal number and their goal number.”

Foster said the tight-knit 26ers (4-10) thrived off close, competitive games, and excelled at uplifting one another on and off the field.

“We all clicked, there were a lot of friendships on this team,” Foster said.

Foster also has a strong relationship with 26ers head coach Melissa Anderson. Foster plays club lacrosse for the Maineiax, a program that Anderson has coached with since 2016.

“I have had her for so long, that I know what she expects of me,” Foster said. “The pressure and the confidence that she has in me makes a difference. She pushes me to be my best and she’s there to help me become the best that I can be. The confidence that she has in me makes me feel more confident in myself.”

Anderson said Foster has a “great ability to read the field,” and is adept on offense at getting to the ball and knowing where to put it on the field.

“We play against some strong goalies, and she is also quick and aggressive on the rebounds,” Anderson said. “Amelia also positions herself on the field often, to open up to other teammates.”

Foster said she’s been working on rebounds because “possession is the name of the game.” The 26ers include rebound drills in many of their practices, but Foster also works on them by herself.

“I used to not really go after the rebounds as much, until probably sophomore year when I really started to work on that more,” Foster said. “At home, I’ll throw it off the rebounder and I will go right into it as if it was a shot that I need to rebound. … It can mostly likely be an open shot if you get that rebound, and I think that is so vital and important, because it gives you more opportunities.”

Coming from a lacrosse family has ignited a sibling rivalry among the Fosters, which makes Amelia “want to try harder to up my siblings.” Being the youngest of the three, she said she also aims to make her older siblings proud.

“Every spring before the season starts, we all go outside — my brother, my sister and my dad, and sometimes my mom (Christina Foster), who will just watch, usually,” Amelia Foster said. “We will all just play pass in the front yard with slush and snow on the ground.”

The Foster yard sessions helped Amelia develop as a player, she said, because she was able to pass against and defend Mikey, who’s five years older and has a more aggressive playing style.

“When I see an opportunity, I make it for myself; I don’t wait for that opportunity,” Foster said. “I know that I have to make that opportunity for myself.”

Foster capitalized on 30 opportunities to score this season. That’s a lot of goals, but she said that seeing the ball hit the back of the net never gets old. Post-goal celebratory handshakes have become a tradition with her teammates and are “still exciting no matter how many goals I may have.”

“It’s the pressure of those and having to rise to the occasion that’s so much fun,” Foster said. “When it’s such a close game, whether we make it or break it, no matter how many goals I may get in the game or may not get in the game, it’s so exciting to see that ball hit the back of the net.”