- April 26, 2024
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There’s always been a myth regarding siblings and the ability to communicate in ways that seem almost telepathic in nature.
If you ask sisters Caroline and Madison McCarthy, they agree that maybe — just maybe — there is something to that myth.
On the lacrosse field this past year for the West Orange High girls lacrosse team, the duo wreaked havoc on opposing teams, and they attribute their success to their unique bond and ability to communicate.
“We have, like, code words almost, so we know where exactly to go, and I think that both of us have done really good in our lacrosse careers,” said Caroline McCarthy, a senior who just finished her last season. “We always kind of look up ahead of time, and as soon as we get the ball, we kind of know where each other is on the field already.
“So as soon as we get it, we can immediately pass, and people aren’t expecting us to pass to each other that quickly,” she said. “It kind of throws the other teams off-guard, because they don’t see anything coming. We don’t actually say stuff out loud — we just kind of know.”
On draw plays, the younger Madison McCarthy — who just wrapped up her sophomore season — takes the draw and will set up her sister in a specific spot. From there, it just works, Madison McCarthy said.
Getting to that level of comfort and anticipation doesn’t just come without work.
Despite being exactly two years, two months and two days apart, Caroline and Madison McCarthy are basically twins — and they often get mistaken as such.
The two share the same mannerisms, look similar and spend tons of time with each other. It’s also how Madison McCarthy got into lacrosse — she followed her sister.
In the summer going into seventh grade, Caroline McCarthy started playing recreation ball, and Madison McCarthy didn’t want to miss out.
“We always did the same, similar sports — like whenever she did basketball, I did basketball — and then she started lacrosse and she had a lot of fun with it,” Madison McCarthy said. “I saw her doing it, and I was like, ‘Oh, I want to try that.’”
The two started playing on a recreational team before being split up during a season with the Orange Crush Lacrosse team. It was fun, but the two missed playing on the same team, Madison McCarthy said.
The sisters were reunited again for the 2020 season at West Orange, with Madison McCarthy joining the team as a freshman, while Caroline McCarthy was going into her junior year. It was a big moment for Madison McCarthy, and Caroline McCarthy went over everything she could think of to get her comfortable and ready to play at the high school level.
“When she was coming into high school, I was just kind of like, ‘OK, Maddie, it’s you and me, kind of,’ because all the older girls had graduated, and it was kind of our year to take over the team last year,” Caroline McCarthy said. “I was just kind of like, ‘We just need to come up with our own plays so that we always have something to run no matter what.’ We’re really close off the field, so we have really good connection on the field … and I think that’s why we play really good together.”
Coming into this last year as a senior, Caroline McCarthy knew she had to go out with a bang on the field while also enjoying what games she had left with her sister.
“I just knew that I had to leave everything I had on the field this year, since I wasn’t going to play in college — I just knew this was my last chance,” Caroline McCarthy said. “And especially having Maddie to play with, — I just wanted to make her look good … and just kind of leave our mark on West Orange history with girls lacrosse.”
Madison McCarthy shared that sense of urgency, too. Originally, there was fear that a season may not even happen, but when those worries dissipated as spring arrived, Madison McCarthy was more than eager to suit up for one last season on the field with her sister.
“I was really excited to play this year,” Madison McCarthy said. “Last year, (Caroline and I) were two of the starting middies with another senior, so whenever the senior left, I knew it would be up to me and Caroline, and so I was just hoping for a full season because it’s the last of me and Caroline playing together.”
By season’s end — which came in a district semifinal loss to rival Windermere Tuesday, April 13 — the Warriors amassed a solid 11-6 record, and the two sisters were the top two scorers on the team.
As Caroline McCarthy now prepares for graduation — before attending LSU in the fall — her sister is looking to continue a tradition at West Orange for the next two years and possibly follow her to LSU in a few years.
“I’m going to try and follow her wherever she goes,” Madison McCarthy said with a laugh. “Hopefully, I’ll like it. And if I do, I’ll follow her there.”
