With a quick scan of her surroundings, midfielder Lila Casto ’27 rushes into open space, calling out to her teammate. Receiving the ball in stride, a clean sweeping motion sends it barreling toward the lower left corner of the opposing goal. During the quarterfinal game of the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament against Robbinsville on October 12, Casto delivered her first career hat trick for Princeton High School, helping the field hockey team toward a 6­–4 victory.

However, field hockey wasn’t always her calling. Before moving to Spain in eighth grade, Casto had been playing lacrosse for her entire life. Since lacrosse isn’t a popular sport in Spain, Casto picked up field hockey. In this new environment where she played for the Sadus Sevilla Hockey team, Casto quickly picked up the sport, finding her place with the older and more experienced girls.

“I got really into [field hockey] because it was a well-known club team in the south of Spain, so colleges would come visit and their teams would play us,” said Casto. “We played Lehigh and a bunch of these other teams, and I was like, ‘Wow, I really love doing this.’”

Casto decided to try out for the high school team her freshman year after returning from Spain. Her skills and energy immediately stood out to the PHS field hockey coach, Heather Serverson.

“She’s always the one on the field giving 110 percent at all times,” said Serverson. “She’ll literally run herself into the ground in order to try to get us a win.”

Entering her final season, Casto remains highly driven. She brings her passion for the sport into her role as one of the senior captains on the team. Whether there are newcomers or returning players, her energy makes everyone feel welcome.

“[She has] such an inviting personality, [even with] people she’s not as close with. She makes everyone feel like her best friend, and that’s a great environment to have with the team,” said forward Tessa Boyle ’28.

Similarly, Serverson has found similar qualities in Casto while observing her interactions with the rest of the team.

“I’ve honestly never met anyone like her before,” said Serverson. “She’s very driven in a positive way, and her vibes are always oozing off of her onto the rest of the team. It lifts them up. They really respect her a lot.”

As a midfielder, Casto is responsible for controlling the tempo of games, which requires high-level stamina to run back and forth across the pitch during games.

“I was definitely encouraged to be [a midfielder], mostly because sometimes my stick skills aren’t always the best,” said Casto. “Usually, I can make up for that in the hustle that I put into the running portion.”

Although her position is meant to be defensively focused, Boyle notes that Casto is a versatile figure on the field. 

“She’s everywhere,” said Boyle. “She will be blocking goals in the endline, and then she’ll score at the top. ...  Maybe we rely on her too much as a team, but she has everyone’s back.”

Outside of the sport, Casto has learned to maintain a proper balance between athletics and academics by attending year-round practices for multiple teams and taking rigorous classes.

“Time management is not for the weak ... there’s definitely a learning curve,” said Casto. “I have really good friends on the team, and being part of the community at school allows me to have moments where I’m focused on my academics, but with girls from the team.”

Although her season was ended after a loss to Notre Dame High School in the final round of the CVC tournament, Casto has accumulated 22 goals and 17 assists throughout her four seasons. After high school, she is looking forward to exploring where she can continue playing field hockey and contributing to the sports community. Even though Casto is not committing to a school for field hockey, she is considering joining a team as a walk-on. Regardless, Casto has left a memorable impact on the program as a whole.

“She’s got spunk,” said Serverson. “It’s that same expression in her face. I see that same spunk right now. She has this light inside of her. She’s extremely valuable in our program, and we’re going to miss her when she leaves.”

photo: Jasper Clayton

Although Casto started field hockey later than many, she has quickly established herself as a leader and key player on the team, highlighted by her strong form this season.

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