Balsama broke the program’s all-time goals record earlier this season and now has her eyes set on leading the program deep into the playoffs in her final season.
Washington Township High School senior Deanna Balsama admits one of the hardest parts of lacrosse to pick up when she began playing in seventh grade was shooting.
Few would know it looking at Balsama’s lacrosse resume in high school.
Balsama has put her name in Washington Township girls lacrosse’s record books as one of the program’s best offensive players ever. Earlier this season, Balsama topped 200 career goals, and on April 25, she broke the program’s record for career goals of 213 previously held by Melissa Venturi, who now goes by her married name of Melissa Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick played for the Minutemaids in the early 2000s and is now the head coach at Cherry Hill High School West.
Lacrosse is Balsama’s best sport and also the one she picked up the latest in childhood. Balsama had already been playing soccer and basketball before she started with lacrosse.
“It was just fun for me,” Balsama said. “It was fun to play and I loved playing with all of the other girls.”
Balsama faced a number of challenges when she began playing lacrosse. She said learning the sport’s many rules and regulations were tough, as was learning how to shoot. However, she said stickhandling and tossing the ball were skills she developed immediately.
Balsama’s talent earned her a spot on the varsity roster as a freshman in 2015, and while she didn’t score at a rapid pace right away, she said her first season was instrumental in her development.
“It was a little intimidating at first,” Balsama said of playing on varsity as a freshman. “I was scared and nervous. But all of the seniors at the time made me feel comfortable and made me feel more confident in myself.”
Balsama felt she turned into a different player in 2016 as a sophomore. She exploded for a career-best 67 goals in her second season and helped Washington Township improve from a 6–12 record in 2015 to an 11–7 record in 2016.
Balsama scored her 100th career goal in the Minutemaids’ second-to-last game of 2016, a first-round playoff win against South Brunswick High School. At that point, Balsama realized she had the potential to do even more.
“When I got my 100th goal my sophomore year, I was like, I can get my 200th and then the record came into play,” she said. “I set that goal for myself at that point.”
Balsama has shared a special connection with the player she was chasing in the record books. Balsama had played for Kirkpatrick through her club team, South Jersey Devils.
“It was weird,” Balsama said about the connection with Kirkpatrick. “But she always said, ‘You can beat it.’ She was encouraging.”
In another strange twist, Kirkpatrick got to witness Balsama score her 200th goal as the milestone was reached in Washington Township’s 17–9 win over Cherry Hill West on April 16. Reaching 200 goals put Balsama well within striking distance of the record.
“I was trying not to think about (the record,) because when I do I miss a lot and don’t do as well,” she said. “So after 200, we had a bunch of games left, so I’d get it eventually.”
A little more than a week later, Balsama broke the mark with her first of three goals in a 13–6 Washington Township win over Kingsway. Balsama’s goal-scoring barrage has continued into May. She entered last Tuesday’s game against Seneca High School with 59 goals on the year, second-most in the Olympic Conference after Seneca’s Cassidy Spilis.
Balsama also has the Minutemaids in position to possibly make a surprise run in the South Jersey Group IV playoffs. Washington Township entered its game last Tuesday with a record of 7–7, but had a number of close, two- and three-goal losses against top teams such as Eastern Regional High School and Cherokee High School during the season.
“I think we’re very capable of making it far and surprising people,” Balsama said.
