One sister is a Belmont High School field hockey four-year starter, captain, and college-bound Division I player. The other represents the future as much as the present, a standout freshman starter with potential to follow in her older sister’s footsteps and play at the next level.
Together, the Lakin-Schultz sisters anchor the Marauders’ shutdown defensive unit. Even if Belmont (7-0-1) goes all the way to the Division I state championship, Elsie, a senior, and Lucie, a freshman, will play fewer than two dozen games together. They’re expected to enjoy it while helping the program realize its dreams.
“It’s definitely nuanced,” Elsie said. “I’ve gotten emotional a few times thinking about it because it’s going to be a season that I cherish for the rest of my life … but [we] can’t be distracted when we have a big goal as a team.”
Ranked No. 5 in the MIAA’s Division 1 power rankings, the team appears poised for a top seed in the postseason.
Though both play defense, the sisters often show up in the scorebook for their offensive prowess. Elsie (7 goals, 8 assists) scored both goals in a season-opening 2-1 win at Watertown, the program’s first win against its rivals since 2007. She also helped with all three tallies (1 goal, 2 assists) in a 3-1 win over Middlesex League foe Winchester. Lucie scored her first career goal in a 10-0 blowout at Wakefield. She also owns 2 assists.
Those goals often come in a sisterly collaboration. Every time the sisters combine for a score, the team circles up and recites “a beautiful pass” from one to the other, per senior forward Avery Reinold, one of Elsie’s best friends. The sisters and their parents love it.
“They have a really good bond off the field, and it definitely translates to their play on the field,” Reinold said. “You can see Elsie being such a good big sister to Lucie, and it’s so cute.”
The Lakin-Schultz sisters are far from the first sibling duo on Belmont’s field hockey team. In 23 years leading the program, coach Jess Smith recalls four other sister pairs, plus current senior twins Charlotte and Chloe O’Grady.
Two of the tallest players on the field in any given game, Lucie stands 5-foot-11, and Elsie is 5-foot-10. Smith sometimes mixes up their names, but they have different dispositions. Elsie is more type-A, Smith said, and Lucie is more reserved.
“The way you coach them is different, but the way they respond is similar,” Smith said. “Even though they’ve never played together, the way they can read each other on the field is something special.”
Said Elsie: “I know we’re not twins, but it feels like we have telepathy in a way.”
And Lucie: “We kind of know where each other’s going to be, and I definitely think we use that to our advantage in the games.”
Elsie will play Division I field hockey at Brown University next fall. A starter from the outset of her Belmont field hockey career, she also plays club for the East Coast Wizards. Elsie used to play ice hockey and softball for Belmont, but went all-in on field hockey as a junior following her experience with the Junior U.S. Women’s U-16 National Team.
Also an East Coast Wizards club player, Lucie plans to play ice hockey for Belmont in the winter and lacrosse in the spring. She wants to play a sport in college, likely lacrosse or field hockey.
Both sisters looked forward to this fall for a long time. For Elsie, it snuck up faster than she anticipated. Not only is it their first and only chance to play an organized team sport together (unless the same scenario happens in college), but it’s Elsie’s last year at home with Lucie before going off to college.
As much as they cherish the on-field results, it’s also the little things, like Elsie driving Lucie to practice every day.
“I think I’ll look back on this year and there’ll be a lot of great memories,” Lucie said.
“I couldn’t be more grateful to share my last season of high school with my sister on this team,” Elsie said.
