OA Athlete of the Week: Kristina Simonson

When OA girls‘ lacrosse captain Kristina Simonson began her lacrosse career as a freshmen, it was simply because one of her friends convinced her to try out.

In the four years since, Simonson has been the prototypical hard worker and it shows on the field. If anything, Simonson has been one of the go-to scorers for the Tigers. This season alone she has scored 58 goals and 11 assists. This offensive production led to Simonson getting her 100th goal earlier this year.

“She’s always a hard worker. She’s probably the hardest worker on our team. Its great to see her progress and never give up during a game,” Simonson’s coach Kelly Downs said about her.

While it was expected that Simonson was going to get her 100th goal in her final year as a member of the Oliver Ames girls’ lacrosse team, it would be quite hard how to predict how it would happen. Matching her opponent’s goal total, Simonson picked up her 100th goal vs. Sharon after scoring her sixth and final goal of the 16-6 victory against the Eagles. It’s not the way many expect to get past the milestone, but a memorable way nevertheless. 

“It was exciting. It was really good and it was exciting that we won the game too,” Simonson said of scoring her 100th goal.

On the field Simonson has displayed a no quit attitude that compliments her work ethic. In a recent game against first place King Philip, Simonson was still playing as hard as she could down by 10 as she was in the beginning of the game. Already with her 56th goal of the season, that effort gave her goals 57 and 58 early in the second half.

“She is very aggressive and gives her all. You can always count on her to sprint up and down the field for the full 50 minutes,” Downs said.

Refusing to surrender, Simonson spent the rest of the game doing anything she could to stop the KP offense including quickly marking up on defense and trying to set picks on offense.

This time next year expect to see Simonson playing for Babson College where she will be attending school in the fall. A standout on the OA soccer team that made it to the , Simonson also plans to play soccer for the Beavers. Choosing between her top two choices in Babson and nearby Bentley University, Simonson chose Babson after an overnight trip gave her a chance to meet members of the lacrosse team and coach.

“I just liked the campus and I could play soccer and lacrosse there,” Simonson said on her decision to attend Babson. “They’re (the lacrosse team) all really nice and the coach is really nice too.”

With less than three weeks remaining in the season, Simonson’s time wearing the black and orange is coming to an end. What awaits her is a new challenge in collegiate athletics where the intensity and expectations will be higher.

“I’ll definitely miss everyone. It will be a lot different playing in college,” Simonson said. “I’m expecting it will be a lot more intense in college, it will be harder but it will be nice.”