Barker takes leadership role at Agnes Irwin

Lila Barker has grown into a leader precisely when the Agnes Irwin lacrosse team needed one most.

The Owls, who won sole possession of the Inter-Ac championship last season for the first time since 1994, suffered a major setback when senior attacker Hannah Keating, last season's Inquirer player of the year, injured her ACL in the fall.

Add an injury to starting junior goaltender Hailey Andress, and Barker, a junior committed to the University of Virginia, was asked by coach Jenny Duckenfield to wade into unfamiliar territory.

"She told me that this would be a year where I really needed to step up and take on a bigger leadership role because Hannah was such a devastating loss," said Barker, who comes from a family of athletes.

"Last year," Barker said, "I felt like I hit a little bit of a rut where I wasn't getting the ball in the net or making the plays I wanted, and it just really brought down my confidence and my belief in myself."

This season, however, Barker has 18 goals and six assists for the Owls (3-2), who also won the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association Championship last season.

And after the Owls unseated Episcopal Academy, which has won or shared 14 of the last 16 Inter-Ac championships, Barker's inspired play could help them continue to soar. Irwin will travel to Episcopal for a league matchup at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday.

"We know we have a target on our backs, but that's what comes with being good," Barker said. "We deserve that target, but I think it's shaped us to realize we need to work harder so people keep chasing us."

Barker's older brother Will, who attended the Haverford School, played football at Virginia and then briefly in the NFL. An older sister, Lexie, also played lacrosse at Irwin and then briefly at Princeton. Her mother, Lisa Sherrerd Barker, went to Shipley and played field hockey and lacrosse at Richmond. Her father, Rob, went to the Haverford School and swam at Dickinson.

In addition to Barker, the Owls, who finished 23-1 last season, have also been led by their captains: senior midfielders Laura Pansini (committed to Princeton), Emily Fryer (Brown), and Kristin Burnetta (Harvard), and senior defenders Kate White (Dartmouth) and Sarah Platt (Virginia).

"We're all such a selfless group, so that helps us out a lot," Barker said.

So far, Irwin's losses have come against St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (Va.) and Bishop Ireton (Va.), which are ranked No. 4 and 6, respectively, in the Nike/Lacrosse Magazine national Top 25.

Despite the losses of Keating (Harvard) and Andress (Cornell), the Owls are ranked No. 10 in the nation.

"Losing Hannah was hard enough, and then we lost Hailey," Duckenfield said. "These kids have worked hard and have made their mark against some of the best teams in the country. And for that I am extremely proud of them."

While the Owls continue to fly without Keating, who is expected to return near the end of April, Barker said the current flight could help Irwin reach new heights.

"I think we're pushing ourselves harder to make up for that loss, and once she's back we'll have already been top-notch and ready to go," Barker said. "It's just a matter of time."

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