Jones draws notice on and off the field
Catonsville senior also creates self-portraits, landscapes in free time
Catonsville senior Adele Jones is an artist, on the lacrosse field and off. She isn’t afraid to use the same steady hand that creates works of art to feed a teammate or score a goal on her own.
“She’s definitely one of our top scorers,” Catonsville coach Cantey Bailey said, also noting Jones’ pregame artistic activity on road trips. “When we are on the bus, she will doodle and do stuff like that, but she is just very laid back. She does drawings and she is into self-portraits now, but she can also do really pretty landscapes and scenery ones.”
In a 13-10 victory over Arundel on April 5, Jones painted the back of the net with three goals, including two early in the second half to break open a close game.
At 5 feet 10, she uses her height as an advantage. When she played midfield in the past, her reach was a valuable asset on the draws, but now her size helps around the cage.
“Playing on attack, feeds and catching feeds, your stick is above everyone else, so you get a little bit of an advantage there,” Jones said.
Bailey appreciates the way Jones has developed in her third varsity season, but only the second one she has played because of the pandemic canceling the 2020 season.
“She starts out behind the cage and she is like a leader with her presence and she has really taken on that leadership role,” Bailey said. “She has a great drive to goal, but she is also really good at finding that open person.”
Jones, who played goalie on the soccer team last fall, has pulled inspiration from her acrobatic saves to help her around the crease.
“Interestingly enough, I felt like I never deliberately fell on the lacrosse field until I became a soccer goalie,” she said. “I spent so much of my time in the soccer season throwing myself on the ground that it transferred over a little bit and I had a period of time where I was just falling all the time, but sometimes it was to get the shot — you are falling to get around your defender to make the shot, but in some cases it does help.”
Jones, 17, started playing lacrosse in the Catonsville recreation program at 5 years old and it has been her passion ever since.
“Definitely, lacrosse is my favorite, soccer has always been more of a hobby,” she said. “It’s something I enjoy doing, but I wouldn’t terribly miss it if I couldn’t play. Lacrosse is just my favorite thing.”
Her favorite lacrosse moment came during her freshman year on JV.
“We played Hereford and we beat them, it was either overtime or the very end of the game and we won by one goal and I had the assist and Milena Stephen had the goal,” she said. “That was a big thing for us, varsity and JV were never beating Hereford until that game, so it’s just amazing to have that.”
On Thursday, Jones and Stephen, who had five goals in the win over Arundel, celebrated senior night together in a game against Dulaney.
“Seeing senior night during my entire time in high school has always been a fun thing as an observer and it was amazing during the soccer season to have your little moment — and of course the food afterward doesn’t hurt either,” she said.
It certainly tastes better when she is involved in the scoring and it doesn’t matter if she gets the goal or an assist.
“It’s always fun to be the one that gets the score, but it’s also good to be the feeder and to get the goal even if you didn’t take the shot, just the happiness you get with the person who shot it is just amazing,” she said.
Next year, she will play lacrosse at Division III Rochester Institute of Technology, where she plans to major in the imaging science program.
“The major is more focusing on the mass engineering and physics involved with developing the imaging systems for computers,” she said. “It’s less focused on artwork and kind of more on photography, but the photography is more like the science part behind it.”
She hopes to continue with her artistry on and off the field.
“I haven’t decided if I would minor [in art], but I know you can take some electives to fulfill your general requirements, like studio art and that’s something that I would like to do,” she said.
As for the rest of the season, she feels the 4-4 Comets have turned the corner with the win over Arundel and a close loss to Hereford.
“We’ve had a lot of highs and lows and when we are playing really well, we are playing really well and sometimes we struggle to get the morale up and that has been evident in some of our other games that we have lost,” she said. “But definitely with Arundel and Hereford that spark was there and it’s amazing to be there with everyone when we are up like that.”