Moving away from home and into college is never easy, but having friends join you makes it that much easier.
Arizona State Lacrosse players Kiera Biwer, Berit Brookfield, and sisters Maddie and McKenna Riley all knew each other before stepping foot on the ASU campus in Tempe.
All four are from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, 20 miles south of Denver. Even though they grew up in the same town, they didn’t attend the same high school. The Rileys and Biwer went to ThunderRidge, while Brookfield went to Mountain Vista. The schools are a three-mile drive on Colorado’s Wildcat Reserve Parkway apart from each other.
The two high schools are fierce sports rivals with the entire town coming out to see them face off in football and basketball on a yearly basis. However, that rivalry had to be put aside for these girls to become friends.
Women’s Lacrosse is not as popular in the western part of the United States, as it is in the East. Due to a smaller number of girls playing the sport at a high school level, the two high schools had to combine their players onto one team. The jerseys say ThunderRidge, but the teams are split evenly between student-athletes from both schools. Playing with your rival schools’ logo on your chest might seem odd, but for Brookfield it was no problem.
“My dad is a teacher at Mountain Vista, so I grew up going to the rival games and not liking Thunder Ridge,” Brookfield said. “Once I joined the team it felt like we were one, and it was half and half for representation.”
Even though the two schools aren’t fond of each other, when it comes to the team, there was no bad blood.
“During my freshman and sophomore year, there was no problem with the two schools coming together. Everyone on the team was tight knit,” Biwer said.
For the Riley sisters, ending up in Tempe together was not in their sights. They didn’t plan to play at the same college together, but former Arizona State Lacrosse coach Tim Mccormack changed that. They both became Sun Devils, with their high school teammate Brookfield joining them as well.
“We are very different. We each like to be our own person. We originally did not want to (play together in college), but then it ended up that way.” McKenna said.
Brookfield didn’t have any plans to play lacrosse in college, or ever, if you would have asked her when she began high school. She played soccer and basketball, hoping to move on and continue playing soccer in college. During the spring of her junior year, she experienced burnout and decided to give lacrosse a try. She tried out for the high school team, which is where she met the Rileys and Biwer. They played one high school game together before the school, their sports programs and the world shut down due to the pandemic.
COVID-19 did not get Brookfield down. She decided to use the downtime to her advantage.
“COVID gave me time to work on my skill and develop as a player.” Brookfield said.
Brookfield also started working out with Coach Jamie Munro, an established and well-connected lacrosse coach in Colorado. Munro also founded 3D Lacrosse, the club team the Rileys and Brookfield played on. Munro was key in Brookfield getting better at the sport and eventually committing to a college.
“Jamie Munro reached out to me and asked if I wanted to go play at ASU, but I had to take a gap year and reclass. Then, Tim called me in April of my senior year of high school and said we want you to come this year,” Brookfield said.
As the Rileys and Brookfield found their footing in Tempe, there was another lacrosse player from Highlands Ranch coming through the pipeline in Biwer. Maddie Riley is the one who took Biwer under her wing in high school at ThunderRidge.
“When we were seniors, we took the underclassman under our wing, whether that be driving them places or going for food.” She said, “Simple gestures like that helped to make them feel more included.”
Biwer also did not have a straightforward path to Arizona State, but the Sun Devil coaching staff never wavered in wanting her to play in Tempe.
“My recruiting summer I ended up breaking my foot halfway through. I wasn’t able to play and a lot of schools dropped me. Jamie stuck with me and Tim did as well through my injury,” Biwer said.
Biwer ended up becoming a Sun Devil and had some support from her high school friends as well.
“On September 1, Berit, McKenna, and Maddie all texted me. Having three people that I played with and knew I could count on was a pretty big thing,” Biwer said.
All four are now playing regularly for Sun Devil Lacrosse, including Mckenna, who was just cleared from ACL surgery last week. Kiera has appeared in four games as a true freshman while Maddie appeared in the season-opening weekend for the Sun Devils. Berit Brookfield, though now injured, started all 10 games this season and tallied 10 goals.
The Sun Devils continue their season at Stanford on Saturday before heading to Detroit Mercy on Tuesday.