'This program wouldn’t exist without (her)': Meet the pioneer of Stoughton girls lacrosse

STOUGHTON — It wasn't long ago that one member school was missing from the Hockomock League's varsity girls lacrosse puzzle.

In 2019, when now-coach Alicen Flewelling graduated from Stoughton High, there was little to no talk of the Black Knights adopting a team.

Morgan Groppi changed that.

“I was very big in wanting to play for my town," Groppi said. "I would tell my dad, 'When I grow up, I want to play for my high school team.'”

The 4-foot-11 senior attack played youth lacrosse in Easton, but upon nearing high school, Groppi, alongside her younger sister Casey and father Keith, spearheaded the onboarding process for a junior varsity team to form by the start of her freshman year.

The team jumped to the varsity level by the time she was a junior and, though it didn't tally a win in its inaugural season, it rebounded to earn four up to this point in the spring. So much for program firsts, it took Groppi just two seasons to race past the 100 career-point mark.

“This program wouldn’t exist without Morgan," Flewelling said.

“It just shows there’s a lot you can do if you put your mind to it," Groppi said of the record. "A lot of people didn’t think it’d be possible to start a girls program, but within four years, we got it running and now we’re winning varsity games. It’s so unbelievable.”

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Groppi, who is bound to play at the Division 2 level at Franklin Pierce University next year, scored eight goals in Stoughton's 17-16 loss to Sharon last week to gain the milestone. She's atop the Hockomock League's scoring charts at 72 points this season and will likely come close to tripling her junior-year output of 31 by the campaign's end.

“She just exploded this year," said Casey Groppi, a sophomore defender. "She’s such a good player, I would expect nothing less from her.”

"She worked so hard to make this program happen, and since then, she’s worked tirelessly to continue it," Flewelling said. "For her to be setting a record, and setting it at this high of a level, she’ll be talked about for a long time in this program.”

In order to get the program underway, the Groppi family fundraised and later worked with the school committee and athletic department to sort out all of the details -- all in all "a really smooth process," Keith Groppi said.

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Morgan Groppi, who also plays field hockey and intramural flag football, then recruited the hallways to build a roster.

"We started with a bunch of girls that have never played before: some soccer girls, some track girls, and poached some eighth graders before they could pick another sport," Morgan Groppi said.

Day 1 of tryouts is when Groppi made her lasting impression. Not even through her play, either.

“She was a leader on the field to the point where she would stop in the scrimmage to let somebody else shine, or make it a teachable moment for somebody new to the sport," said Flewelling, who was an assistant at the time.

“It was shocking to see. I’ll never forget (it)," she said. "Even in tryouts when, in theory, she should’ve been putting her best foot forward to prove to her coaches that that was her spot, she was pausing to make sure that everyone else on the team was able to do that as well.”

Groppi had the requisite expertise to pass along tips to her newcomer teammates. She played club lacrosse with the 'Laxachusetts' franchise since middle school, and took on circuits (alongside Casey) that sometimes featured four games in one day. Groppi was always "she was the smallest kid, but the fiercest kid," Keith Groppi said. "Like now."

Morgan Groppi led the Black Knights to their first-ever triumph on April 11, a 19-8 final over Taunton in which she scored seven goals and facilitated two assists.

That halted a run of 20 consecutive losses dating back to the team's winless debut season (0-16) last spring, when some of the rookie players, understandably, struggled to throw and catch in their first go of varsity action against a Hockomock League schedule.

“It was tough at some points," Casey Groppi said. "But we knew as a team that we were going to build up eventually and get there. It was all about having that team energy and sticking together.”

Stoughton now stands at 4-10 with its two most recent outings, both losses, coming by a one-goal margin (17-16 loss to Sharon, 7-6 loss to North Attleboro). The team's 9-7 defeat at Dedham was another heartbreaker, albeit an indication of how "everyone’s improved massively," Casey Groppi said.

It's quite the promising senior send-off for one of the program founders.

“(Morgan) is going to raise the bar high," Keith Groppi said. "But we’ve got some kids behind her who are going to work hard to chase her, that’s for sure.”

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Morgan Groppi is Stoughton High's first girls lacrosse all-timer