For two panicked hours as a freshman, Katie Adams believed she hadn’t made varsity.
The verdict came in after Day 3 of tryouts, when coaches sent an email blast around Ridgewood to let players know if they were selected.
Phones buzzed. Group chats exploded. Everyone celebrated or commiserated. Everyone except Katie, who didn’t get anything.
Sitting in the car with her mom, she replayed tryouts in her head, wondering what she’d done wrong, wondering if the message went to a parent’s inbox instead.
Then she reached out to girls lacrosse coach Jim Montegari and found out why. She was accidentally left off the email.
“I was freaking out,” Adams said. “That was the scariest moment of my life.”
Four years later, she made sure her name was everywhere else − on the scoresheet, in the record book and in Ridgewood lore after scoring a hat trick in a 12-4 win over Cherokee in the Group 4 state final. It was her second state title after winning as a freshman.
Since then, Adams became a captain, an All‑American and a spark behind a Ridgewood program that went 70-21 during her career. She exits the stage as the North Jersey Female Athlete of the Week, presented by HSS.
Yet her defining moment came in this year’s North Group 4 sectional final against Morristown, where the Colonials sent the game to overtime on a goal with four seconds left. Ridgewood forced a turnover in OT, then called timeout to draw up a play.
“We wanted Katie to have the ball at the end,” Montegari said. “She’s born for that situation with four years on varsity.”
The plan was to use a screen from Lindsay LaBier and roll to the middle, but Adams saw something different as she drifted toward her teammate. She cut hard to the right, switched hands and found enough daylight for her first career overtime goal.
“It was posted on Instagram a few times and there was one really good video that I watched over,” Adams said. “I just had to see what my reaction was at the end because I don’t remember much of that play, but I just love seeing my whole entire team run at me.”
Before the storybook ending came a rocky start.
Adams was held to one point or fewer in five of Ridgewood’s first eight games, weighed down by expectations she admits she created for herself. She’d spent the offseason imagining what her senior year would look like and found it hard to let go of mistakes.
As the season went on, her coaches stepped in – Montegari, Liz Heydt, Jayne Manzelli, Dana Meehan – and helped rebuild her confidence, reminding her they were proud of her regardless of how much she scored.
With that weight lifted, her game opened up. She notched eight hat tricks in the last 13 games, including one in the playoffs against Westfield, the same opponent that beat Ridgewood in last year’s sectional final.
“Almost every single game when I walked onto the field, I thought about Westfield,” Adams said. “I told [my teammates] at the beginning of the huddle: if you can’t find it in yourself to give your all, find it in each other. And I think everyone found it in each other to give their all.”
Adams delivered in almost every big moment. She scored five goals in this year’s Bergen County championship and six in last year’s county final – both wins. She led Ridgewood this season with 63 goals and tied for the team lead with 72 points, all while fueling the midfield with her pesky defense and unmatched endurance.
“It’s her tenacity on ground balls,” Montegari said. “She could just scoop up balls that I didn’t know were possible. She just has amazing stick skills.”
Adams started playing lacrosse in first grade, the first challenge being keeping up with her older sister Meaghan in backyard games. Katie chose No. 18 at Ridgewood because her sister wore it.
Now, she is headed to William & Mary, drawn to the coaching staff, the academics, and a campus she first visited on a tour with her older sister. She finished her Ridgewood career with 182 goals, seventh all‑time in one of New Jersey’s most decorated programs.
Not bad for someone who once thought she didn’t make the team.
“Such an amazing experience,” Adams said. “And I’m so grateful to have done it with these groups of girls.”
Katie Adams
Sport: Lacrosse
School: Ridgewood
Class: Senior Age: 18
Accomplishment: Adams led Ridgewood to wins in the sectional and state finals with a combined five goals, one assist and four forced turnovers.
Also nominated: Abby Kiem of DePaul for softball.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen Record Female Athlete of the Week: Katie Adams, Ridgewood
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