School records are in view, but Anderson wants another shot at state lacrosse title
Humility sometimes is hard to find in talented athletes. However, for Fort Mill girls’ lacrosse player Charlotte Anderson it is very easy to see.
The senior is working to lead Fort Mill back to the playoffs, which opens April 16, and hopefully to another state title game.
Last season, Fort Mill fell to JL Mann 7-5 in the state championship game.
From a personal standpoint, she also is closing in on the school record for the most career goals for a girls’ lacrosse player. She is playing her fourth season at the varsity level.
Anderson’s goal total for her career is 180 through last week. She is second in team history behind assistant coach’s Kristian Terry’s 199 career goals. Depending on how far Fort Mill goes in the playoffs, Anderson could be the first Fort Mill girls’ lacrosse player to top 200 goals.
She has 60 goals in 14 games this season and has led Fort Mill to a 11-3 record.
When it comes to talking about herself, Anderson doesn’t say anything unless prompted.
“When it comes to skill, she is definitely tops in our program,” said Fort Mill head coach Kellianne Wunk. “She deserves the recognition that she gets and that she got last year. The biggest thing about her is that she is humble about her skills. I love the fact that she is a team player. She is super positive and even if she isn’t having a good game, she is more concerned about the team.”
Anderson is the defending Upper State Player of the Year and an All-State player. She could easily repeat those accomplishments this year, but her main goal is to win a state title.
“I think we have come a long way in our defense this year and I am excited about that because I feel like that will take us to the state championship,” she said. “Overall the team looks strong. We have a lot of work still to do.”
Originally from the Garden City area of Long Island, New York, Anderson and her family moved down South when she was six-years-old. Anderson got started early in playing lacrosse as it was part of her family’s DNA.
“My dad played and loved it,” she said. “My older sister played, my brother played so I started in fifth grade and fell in love with the sport. I love that it is competitive. I love that you have to be a great athlete to play. Not just big and strong, but a combination of everything. There are so many things to work on to be good at it. You have to put in a lot of work to be good.”
Fort Mill is currently ranked third in 5A and while the seeds haven’t been set for the playoffs, the Jackets could see several difficult teams including Chapin, Wando and JL Mann. The Jackets have some unfinished business against Mann. Anderson is optimistic that they can put things together to beat them.
“The biggest thing is that every time we play JL Mann it doesn’t feel like us playing real lacrosse,” she said. “They always have a game plan for us. We have beaten them before, but when we got to the state championship, I think we lost sight of what we needed to focus on for that. But this year seeing how important it is to focus on what we need to do and not let them shake us from that.”
With all of her scoring abilities and talent, it seems like playing in college would be second nature. However, Anderson said she is still undecided about it even though she has offers from schools like Lander University and Lenoir-Rhyne University.
“I am looking at the University of South Carolina,” she said. “They don’t have a (Division I) team there and I have had some generous offers from others schools. But it comes down to if I like the actual school more than I love South Carolina. So, I don’t know yet.”
Anderson said she wants to major in pre-med and knows that even if she goes to South Carolina, she will play club lacrosse, but said that depends on how she feels at the end of the season about playing in college.
“Honestly it depends on how this season turns out,” she said. “If I finish and I am ready to let go than I can move on and go to South Carolina, but if I need to keep playing, I need to pick somewhere I can play for another four years.”