By Sam Bernardi for The Montgomery News | Posted July 9, 2026
Emma Scrudato thought she had fallen in love with lacrosse too late.
Until 8th grade, she played goalie in middle school and for Ultimate Lacrosse in Princeton.
Montgomery High School Lacrosse Play Emma Scrudato
After than, she became an avid ice hockey player. However, by junior year, the strain of travel hockey had worn on her (and her car’s tires), swaying the pendulum back to lacrosse.
It’s never too late to fall in love. After two years of total commitment to lacrosse, Scrudato landed a spot on the Wellesley College team, where she will play this fall.
“I think being an ice hockey player definitely translates well with lacrosse, especially as a field player,” Scrudato said.
By her junior year, she was a point machine for head coach Joe Riccardi’s squad, tallying 36 goals and 19 assists while flying around the turf scooping ground balls and controlling draws.
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Going into her senior year at Montgomery High School, Coach Riccardi needed even more from his senior.
“She really is team-first,” Riccardi said. “Whatever I’ve asked of her this year, she’s just stepped up and done.”
The ultimate competitor, Scrudato drew on her experiences playing for various traveling lacrosse and ice hockey teams to help build the support system all athletes need to thrive.
“I’m definitely a competitive person. So, it was for a while easy for me to get frustrated,” Scrudato said. “… But, ultimately, being on so many different teams and seeing how well supportive team culture works has kind of gotten me to where I am.”
Emma Scrudato
Scrudato started senior year at attack before taking on more defensive and midfield responsibilities. She had to sacrifice some of those goals and assists, though her selflessness helped Montgomery to its deepest postseason run in program history: A sectional final.
“It’s definitely tiring out there, especially in the midfield. But, I just love being out there with my team,” she said.
Perhaps no game better encapsulates her versatility than a four-goal, two-assist, four-ground ball, two-draw, two-forced turnover blitzkrieg versus Manalapan in the sectional quarterfinal.
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The Cougars fell in double overtime to Cherokee in the sectional final, finally providing Riccardi with the day he had so dreaded: Emma’s departure for college.
