ELON, N.C. – The Elon University lacrosse team is composed of 33 players. Eight of those players hail from the state of New Jersey. That accounts for almost one quarter of the team's roster. 

Of those eight players, Mikaela Buoscio is a senior, Brooke Scheuermann and Kiley Selquist are juniors, Caitlin Walsh and Jessie Penner are sophomores and Maddie Engelkraut, Jamie Fardin and Gwen Eilender are freshmen. While not intentional, the program has built a pipeline from the Garden State.

These players all live within 30 minutes of each other and each played with at least one of the other seven Jersey players prior to coming to Elon, whether at the high school or the club level.

Now, as each of them have found their way to Elon, they all relish the opportunity to play together and to show the lacrosse world what New Jersey players are made of.
 
Straight Out of Westfield
"Do you remember Brooke Scheuermann from high school?"

Interested in adding Scheuermann, a defender from Division III powerhouse Salisbury University, Elon head coach Josh Hexter sent a text to a reliable source to get the inside scoop on the potential addition – Scheuermann's high school teammate Mikaela Buoscio.

Buoscio gave her head coach quite the convincing pitch in favor of her longtime New Jersey friend.  

"My biggest point was that her decision making skills on the field were so sharp and she makes all the right ones," Busocio said. "Also just her work ethic, that's something that you can't really teach."

Separated by one year, Buoscio and Scheurmann's connection goes way back – Buoscio was best friends with Scheuermann's older sister Nicole in preschool. The two became close friends themselves when Buoscio was a sophomore and Scheuermann a freshman at Westfield High School. 

"We found our way back to each other from getting to know each other when we were younger," Buoscio said. 

As a freshman, Buoscio made Westfield's junior varsity team and played with Nicole. The next year, Buoscio and both Scheuermann sisters made the varsity team. A year after that, Westfield won its sectional championship. 

"Everyone on the team was just super, super close," Scheuermann said. "That obviously helped and translates into being more successful on the field."
 
Despite winning that sectional championship, Buoscio was close to quitting lacrosse in the latter stages of her high school career. She had a hard time during the college recruiting process and was not getting many looks to play at the next level. That all shifted during the last fall showcase tournament of her junior year. She vividly remembers the moment that changed her fortunes in the sport. 

"It was the last game of the day, it was freezing. And Josh [Hexter], our head coach [at Elon], was sitting on the sideline watching our game. He came to watch me play and there was a ground ball rolling right toward him and I was running full speed," Buoscio said. "I almost ran him over. We always joke about it now. He's like, 'That's when I knew I wanted you on this team, because of the hustle.'"

Buoscio was familiar with Elon at the time  – her older cousin attended the school. However, after her near collision with Hexter, she decided to take her talents from Jersey to North Carolina. 

Fast-forward over two years and Scheuermann was looking to make a move to a Division I school. Elon found its way to her radar and she began emailing Hexter about potentially joining the Phoenix. 

"He emailed me back and said he had talked to Mikaela," Scheuermann said. "That helped a lot because he was recruiting me solely off film because he couldn't come to any of my games. Talking to Mikaela helped him get interested in me." 

Scheuermann joined Elon in the winter prior to the team's 2023 spring campaign. Her cousin Michaela Hobson, currently a pitcher on Elon's softball team, transferred to the school a year prior, which helped her get comfortable with the school. Reuniting with Buoscio also helped her settle into the lacrosse program. 

"It was nice knowing that I knew someone from high school because transferring is obviously such a scary thing to do," Scheuermann said. "We have similar personalities, so knowing that there's [a] personality like that at Elon is also something that I loved because I think being able to be so close with each other and have those fun times together just makes us so much more successful on the field." 

After winning their sectional championship at Westfield, Scheuermann and Buoscio's third and final year together in high school was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They always felt like they had unfinished business on the field and joining forces at Elon allows them closure for the season they lost. 

"Brooke coming here reminded me that we had such a fun time in high school and crushed it on the field," Buoscio said. "It's a really nostalgic and sentimental feeling that is sometimes lost when you come here because you're so focused on the moment and Division I and college, but you can't remember your roots and where you came from. Brooke coming here was a perfect example of how I was reminded of that." 

As Elon's New Jersey pipeline continues to strengthen, both Buoscio and Scheurmann enjoy having such a strong presence of Jersey girls on the team. 

"It's a nostalgic feeling knowing people from New Jersey," Scheuermann said. "It honestly makes you less homesick because you kind of feel like they're bringing home to you at Elon."

"It's really nice having people from New Jersey," Buoscio added. "Sometimes one of our parents will bring like two dozen bagels from Jersey. We miss those types of Jersey core things. Just being together and embracing it and having that sense of community on our already very close team is just something so special that not a lot of people get to experience."

Made in Madison
When Kiley Selquist chose to attend Elon in 2020 in the midst of a successful career at Madison High School, she never thought that four years later, another Madison legend would follow her. 

"I was beyond excited," Selquist said. "We always talked about her coming to Elon and potentially being my teammate, and I really never thought it would happen, but here we are now."

From 2018-21, Selquist helped lead Madison to three conference championships, and as a senior, she served as team captain. Becoming a team captain at any level is a notable honor, but coming out of a turbulent 2020, Selquist had more weight on her shoulders to lead two inexperienced groups of underclassmen.

One of those underclassmen was Gwen Eilender.

Selquist and Eilender had grown up as friends, with Selquist being close to Eilender's older brother. The connection led the two to know each other before either stepped foot in Madison High School.

"We knew each other before playing lacrosse, and now playing lacrosse, committing to the same school, it feels very nice to have a sense of home," Selquist said.

In 2016, Selquist toured Elon with her older brother during his college visits. She fell in love with the campus, and her visit ultimately led to her committing to play for the Phoenix four years later.

"[My brother] came to visit Elon, and at that moment, I immediately fell in love with the campus," Selquist said. "I got in touch with Josh, and he kept in touch with me with open arms."

Eventually, Selquist left New Jersey for North Carolina and committed to play at Elon in September of her junior year. Despite moving over 500 miles away, she often returned to her hometown to watch her former teammates. 

"I remember coming back and watching Gwen score during the spring," Selquist said. "It really touched my heart to see because I've known her all this time, and now she's grown up scoring goals and committing to the same school as me, so it was a full circle moment."
 
Eilender would eventually fill the role that Selquist once did. As a senior, she served as captain and earned her second most valuable player award for the team.

During her impressive run at Madison, Eilender attended the same prospect camps that Selquist once did. These camps cemented Elon as her top choice in the recruitment process.

"The Elon camp I went to was a game changer, the cherry on top of the campus and the school," Eilender said. "I could just tell the energy was there, and I was excited to get called back by Josh to talk to him."

Now at the collegiate level, Selquist once again serves as a mentor for Eilender as she navigates her first season for the maroon and gold.

"She helped me find Josh's office, it was just funny because I knew her and she made me feel a lot safer and more comfortable going into a meeting with the head coach," Eilender said. "It definitely made it a lot smoother, transition-wise, coming into college so far away, but it was nice having that person that you can always go to."

With nearly a quarter of the team from the same state, travel and workout plans are easier to coordinate.

"We always have a group chat that talks about coming home for the fall break or Thanksgiving," Selquist said. "We all work out together, and it's nice because it takes a little anxious load off our shoulders knowing we have each other's back during training for preseason, especially when we're at home."

On April 14, in the final moments of Elon's game against the William & Mary Tribe, Eilender took her first career shot and found the back of the net.

"When I first scored, it was really exciting, and I'm so happy that my team was there to witness it and celebrate with them after," Eilender said. "I feel like I've been waiting for that moment for a very long time, and I've been working up to it."

It's not often that the defense, and especially the goalie, come to greet an offensive player after a score. The freshman's standout play was a moment of celebration for all the players with ties to New Jersey.

"I remember standing on the 30 and I just sprinted up to her," Selquist said. "Usually, the defense doesn't go up to the attackers because we're so far away, but my adrenaline after seeing her score was just heartwarming because seeing her in high school scoring goals to now at the college level where the competition is so much harder and mentally tough. It definitely was a full-circle moment, and I wouldn't trade that for the world."

The unlikely pipeline of New Jersey lacrosse players has given the Phoenix a different fire than other North Carolina programs.

"Watch out for those Jersey girls," Eilender said.

Summit Sensations
Caitlin Walsh and Jessie Penner met during their freshman year at Summit High School in Summit, New Jersey, through sports. While the duo did not spend their entire childhoods playing lacrosse together, they made up for lost time as teammates on three different teams throughout high school.

"We first started playing field hockey and basketball together, and then we started playing lacrosse," Walsh said. "So that chemistry for other sports translated to lacrosse."

But it was lacrosse that gave each of them some of their fondest memories from their high school sports careers, with one standing out above the rest — the New Jersey Tournament of Champions, otherwise known as the TOC.

"We won the TOC our senior year," Penner said. "That was a big experience for our whole team which was really cool."

"TOC is when all the state's champions play each other for one final championship," Walsh added. "It was really special for us because it was the last one ever, they got rid of it after our senior year."

Fresh off of winning a state championship, Penner was all set on coming to Elon, while Walsh was still undecided about where she would head to school.

For Penner, Elon was a no-brainer, in large part due to their teaching program – she aspires to be a teacher – in addition to the lacrosse team.

"I got to speak with other players on the team in the past and they seemed to really like playing lacrosse here," Penner said.

With Walsh still undecided about her college choice, Penner reached out to her and made a pitch about why she should join her at Elon. Much to the delight of Hexter, Penner's pitch worked, as Walsh decided to join forces with her high school teammate at the next level.

"I started playing lacrosse here because of Jessie," Walsh said. "She texted me and was like, 'Josh wants to talk to you, I think you would love it here,' and that's how it happened."
 
"I was very back and forth at first deciding if I wanted to come to Elon just because I had never seen the school before and I only knew Jessie that was coming here," Walsh added. "She was a huge influence on me coming here, she was the one that made it all happen and put me in contact with Josh. Without her, I would not be here."

However, since Walsh made her decision so late in the recruitment process, she was unable to join the team until Winter term, just one month prior to the start of the team's 2023 season. But with Penner's help, and with fellow New Jersey newcomer Scheuermann – who joined the team at the same time as her – Walsh was able to adjust to her new team quickly.

"Jessie showed me where everything was and helped introduce me to all my friends that I have now," Walsh said. "Also, Brooke, another Jersey girl, came in at the same time as me, so that made the transition a lot easier as well."

"And we had a great time!" Penner emphatically added.

While Penner helped Walsh adjust to her new team off the field, it is Walsh that has helped Penner on the field, as she is able to read the field as a goalie and help Penner, a defender, with where she needs to be.

"I rely on Caitlin so much for footwork and telling me where to go," Penner said. "After any goal that is scored I always tell her, 'Please tell me what I need to do,' because she sees the field more than I can."

With Walsh and Penner being just two of eight Jersey players on the roster, they love getting to play with like-minded players from their home state that could only be described in one word.

"They're gritty," Walsh said.

Club Life to College Life
Jamie Fardin and Maddie Engelkraut are the only two players that did not play with another Jersey girl in high school. However, they have played together longer than any of the duos that played in high school together. 

The two have been playing together since fourth grade for Building Blocks Lacrosse (BBL), a lacrosse club team in New Jersey. In fact, all three of the Elon lacrosse freshmen played together on BBL with Eilender also being on the team with them, in addition to being Selquist's high school teammate. Looking back on their time playing club lacrosse together, both Fardin and Engelkraut remember it fondly.

"Maddie and a lot of the other girls on the team made it really easy for me to become friends with them," Fardin said. "It was always a very fun, positive environment. We would always hang out at the tournaments together, in the hotels, and it was always really fun with them."

"I also joined in fourth grade, that's the earliest year you can play club, so we've been playing together for a while," Engelkraut added. "On the field I feel like she's [Fardin] always been a great defender, super fast. Off the field, we've always gotten along. Hanging out at tournaments was super fun, our parents are good friends too, our little brothers used to hang out too. It was fun growing up with her."

While they each had a different favorite memory from their time on BBL, they were experiences that had nothing to do with lacrosse.

"We were in Hershey Park, and that was always my favorite tournament because after our games we went to the park," Fardin said. "Our parents would split off and they would let us go and run around and go on all the rides together. Me and Maddie would always go on all the big roller coasters together, so that was always really fun."

Engelkraut had a different favorite memory than Fardin but with similar sentiments.

"My favorite memory was when we were super young, I think it might have been fifth or sixth grade," Engelkraut said. "The girls we were friends with would all go to one hotel room and we would play hotel tag. We would run around, ding-dong-ditch people and stuff, and it was so funny."
 
But as they grew up, they began to take a look at playing lacrosse at the collegiate level seriously, which is when they learned about Elon, with Engelkraut being the first to commit between herself, Fardin and Eilender.

"When Jamie texted me – I still have the picture saved on my camera roll – it was, 'Oh I have a call with the Elon coach today,' and I was so excited," Engelkraut said. "My club coach also reached out to me and said, 'Hey, not sure if you knew this but Elon's looking at Jamie and Gwen.' My first reaction was, 'That's literally the two perfect people I would love to go to college with.' Their families are so fun, they're so fun, and we're all pretty good friends."

For Fardin, once Elon reached out to her, the idea of coming to a school that she was already interested in, in addition to teaming up with Engelkraut again, was too much to pass up on.

"The prospect of me being able to play with her in college was really exciting," Fardin said. "Coming to Elon's prospect camp in the winter is kind of what sealed the deal, and I did that camp with Gwen too. After that we both got offers, and committing knowing that I was going to play with Maddie and Gwen in college was really fun and exciting."

"I remember talking to Maddie and being really happy for her that she was committing there [Elon]," Fardin continued. "She was very excited to go, and she definitely made the choice easy for me. Once I realized how the next four years were looking, if I went to school with Maddie, it really sealed the deal."

With the three Jersey freshmen coming in together, there were already five other players from New Jersey on the team, something that excited both Fardin and Engelkraut.

"Lacrosse in New Jersey is a very small world," Fardin said. "Everyone from Jersey in the lacrosse world knows each other. Jersey's just got that 'dawg' mentality."

Expanding off of that 'dawg' mentality, when talking about New Jersey lacrosse players, the two had a similar message.

"New Jersey lacrosse players have that hustle mentality," Fardin said. "You've got to work for what you get. Always putting in extra work. We're always trying to get better in the offseason so when it comes down to the grind time we're always on the same mental page trying to get wins."

"We all just really love the sport," Engelkraut added. "We all want to make each other better. We go super hard in practice and can hang out after and still have fun. If Jamie backchecked me or something, we can put that behind us and really just try to make each other better."

Pizza, Bagels and Personality 
Even though Elon's eight Jersey girls are far from home while playing at Elon, they still get reminders of their roots every once and a while. 

One of the things they all miss most about Jersey is the bagels. Fortunately for them, when some of their parents come to visit Elon, they bring plenty of bagels for all the Jersey girls to share. 

"Everything bagels, sesame bagels, all that stuff, we miss those types of core Jersey things," Buoscio laughed. 

Bagels may be one unifying force for Elon's Jersey girls, but they have also built up a strong bond through lacrosse. With their season winding down, this will be the last year that all eight of these players will share the field together. 

As each of the Jersey girls progress through their college journeys, they know they have each other whenever they need a sense of home, and have built bonds that will last long after their Elon days.

But Buoscio, a senior and the eldest of the Jersey girls, hopes to see the Jersey pipeline continue even after her career at Elon is done.

"Jersey's the best state to come from," Buoscio said. "We've got pizza, we've got bagels, we've got personality, and we bring it on this team."

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'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.

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