Bradbury is Northern Highlands’ tough leader by Sean Farrell of The Record
ALLENDALE – The pain doesn’t bother Julia Bradbury.
The training room visits and doses of Advil are just another part of her daily routine. The bruises on her arms are a part of life this time of year. The back spasms that flare up during games are something she’s used to by now.
It’s taken a toll to draw as much attention as she does every game.
But Bradbury is as tough a lacrosse player as any.
This is her senior season. And this is Northern Highlands’ year.
“My least favorite thing is to lose,” Bradbury said. “So I’ll do whatever I can to not do that.”
“She’s not afraid to get pushed around,” senior Kaitlyn Callaghan said. “Off the field, she’s sweet and nice. But on the field, she’s scary. You don’t want to step in front of her.”
Bradbury is the offensive catalyst for a team expecting to go far in the Bergen County and state tournaments. The Bucknell-bound midfielder, who’s scored 98 goals in each of the last two seasons, already has 21 this spring.
Two of them came on Saturday in a 6-4 win for the second-ranked Highlanders (3-2) over No. 7 Mahwah. She buried nearly identical free position shots just 38 seconds apart midway through the second half.
“She wants the ball,” Northern Highlands coach Michael Menzella said. “When there’s a tight situation, you want your best shooter to have it. You always want your best player to want the ball, too. And you can see that from her. You can see her take charge. She leads by example.”
Menzella compares Bradbury to a chess player who can anticipate how a game will develop steps in advance. They first met when Bradbury was in fifth grade, and her understanding of the game stuck out back then. She had started lacrosse three years earlier and picked up the skills from her mother, a former lacrosse player for Georgetown.
“She’s always thinking,” Menzella said. “She sees the field so well and understands the game so well. Her lacrosse IQ is unmatched.”
Bradbury is surrounded by talent this spring. The Highlanders return 17 varsity players and all but one member of last season’s team. Nine seniors are in the starting lineup, many with years of experience.
Callaghan and Lauren Donato are back on offense. Grace Travers and Melina North return on defense. Victoria Marino starts in net.
“It’s the deepest team I’ve ever coached,” Menzella said.
“We hold each other to a very high standard,” Bradbury said. “We’ve been playing together for 10 years now. Having a lot of seniors, we seem to know what we’re going to do. We pick each other up. We know what each other’s strengths are.”
It’s now the season the Highlanders have been waiting a long time for.
It’s why Bradbury does her best to ignore the back spasms and neck pain that have limited her for the last two years.
Even at around 85 percent, she’s out on the field – scoring one goal after another.
“She could say that she’d like to think about the future,” Menzella said. “We had the conversation last week about maybe resting or getting her 100 percent. But she said, ‘Coach, I want to be on the field’. She sacrifices a lot to be out there for the girls.”