Lacrosse captains have a strong bond
Saratoga seniors Amy Mahoney, Lindsay Rutz developed a strong bond through athletics
SARATOGA SPRINGS » Saratoga Springs girls lacrosse captains Ann Mahoney and Lindsay Rutz take their place at the front of the team for the day’s cool-down lap, donning T-shirts with the team’s adopted motto, “clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.”
It’s the mantra of NBC’s mid-2000’s hit “Friday Night Lights,” a television show about high school football in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas, and was the team’s inside joke and rallying cry this past season.
On that windy practice in mid-May, the duo could count the number of times they’d set the pace around the perimeter on one hand. But now, with their season over, the two have had time to reflect on their careers and perhaps, more importantly, their friendship — which seems more like something out of Hollywood than real-life high school.
“It was from the first day,” said Rutz, describing their friendship.
“From the first moment,” added Mahoney.
And it all started with a pair of shoes. Blue shoes, to be more specific. Not exactly the blue suede shoes that Elvis Presley once sang about, but a blue pair of Nike shox.
“On the first day of middle school we sat at the same ta-
ble and Lindsay was wearing these blue Nike shox and I just thought they were so cool and I thought I should be friends with her because of that,” Mahoney said, the conversation dissolving into laughter. “They were really cool shoes.”
The two first started playing organized sports on a recreation league basketball team in the sixth grade. They then started lacrosse in the spring, which rolled into field hockey the next fall. During their time at Saratoga, Mahoney and Rutz captained those three varsity sports together, while winning multiple awards, including being named All Suburban Council first team all stars, Exceptional Senior Game participants and Academic AllAmericans.
“It’s been awesome, not only being able to go to practices together and hang out all the time, but even on the field I think we have great chemistry,” said Mahoney. “We always seem to know where each other are throwing passes on the basketball court or in lacrosse when she brings the ball up on defense.”
Their chemistry on the field is undeniable, even a little freaky.
“We know how each other plays. I guess you could say it’s a telepathy thing,” said Rutz. “I know Ann is in the midfield and she’s always going to be cutting for me. In field hockey, I know she’s always that pass up from me. In basketball, she’s the one to give that outlet pass to.”
Of all the countless times Mahoney and Rutz have connected on the field or court, Mahoney vividly remembers a basketball game against rival Shenendehowa in particular. She was fighting for possession when she caught Rutz out of the corner of her eye.
Mahoney flipped the ball out in front of her as Rutz flew in and scored.
“It’s with a look,” said lacrosse and field hockey assistant coach Beth Roberts. “They don’t even have to talk to each other. It’s with a look. They just know. They’ve played together for so long.”
Roberts has grown to know and love the duo of Mahoney and Rutz, coaching them since their sophomore year of field hockey and enlisting them as her go-to babysitters. She even specifically signed on to coach lacrosse this season to be with them one final time.
“They are the sole reason I took the assistant position in lacrosse,” Roberts said. “I wanted to coach them for one more season. I watched them play basketball all winter and as seniors I just wasn’t ready to let go of them.”
For Roberts, no matter how much Mahoney and Rutz accomplished on the field together, it will be the things they did off it, and the people they became, that she will remember most.
“You very rarely see one without the other, whether it’s in the community or here on campus. They have so come into their own. They have become exactly who all the people who love and adore them wanted them to become,” she said, remem- bering the time the two showed up to support her son at his chorus concert.
“They came after basketball practice to a first grader’s concert, sat in the third row with me, clapped their little hearts out and made a 7-year-old happier than anything,” Roberts said. “That’s just the kind of girls they are, completely selfless. Just great citizens, great people.”
The Blue Streaks’ season ended in the Class A semis against Shaker, a game that brought with it some disappointment, by also pride for both Mahoney, Rutz and their coaches.
For most high schoolers, the waning months of senior year are filled with excitement — proms and graduation — but also the realization that major change is coming. New school, new job, new friends. Even the fictional kids in Dillon eventually moved on, met new people and left football behind.
Rutz will be attending Virginia Tech in the fall while Mahoney will be at Springfield College, where she will play both field hockey and lacrosse. But the two, who swear they’ve never so much as fought and who are already scheduling college visits together, don’t plan on growing apart any time soon.
“It’s definitely sad, I can’t picture not seeing her everyday and being able to hang out, but I don’t question if we’ll stay friends or not, I think it’s a definite that we’ll always be together,” said Mahoney. “We’ll probably text and call each other all the time because we’re basically sisters at this point, we’re family.”