3 min read

WINDHAM — Throughout the season, as Abby Trainor of the Windham girls lacrosse team drew closer and closer to 400 career points, coach Matt Perkins reached out to longtime coaches and followers of the sport to find out how many Maine players had accomplished the feat.

They were confused. They didn’t think that number could be reached.

“Most of their responses were ‘What are you talking about?’ In surprise,” he said. “It’s never been done.”

Abby Trainor’s extended family show their support after the Windham High School senior achieved point No. 400 during Tuesday’s game against Portland High School. From left are, Trainor’s mother Shannon Trainor, grandfather Michael Trainor, father Jeremy Trainor, aunt Maren Trainor, grandmother Grace Trainor and 13-year-old sister Addison Trainor. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image

It has now. Trainor tallied her 400th point as part of a seven-goal, five-assist game in Windham’s 23-3 victory Tuesday evening against Portland. While other high-scoring players have come through the state — Kennebunk’s Ruby Sliwkowski, for instance, finished with 336 after losing her freshman season to the COVID-19 pandemic — it’s believed that Trainor, who’s now at 293 goals and 112 assists, is the first to reach 400.

“It’s kind of surreal, because I’ve been playing with the top players before me in club teams or in the summer,” said Trainor, who will play at Fairfield University next year. “It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around that I was once looking up to them, and now there’s probably people who will be looking up to me.”

Trainor entered the game needing seven points, and she scored them 6:09 into the game with three goals and four assists. Point No. 400 was an assist, obtained when she took the ball off a faceoff, moved around a defender from the right side and found Neve Ledbetter in stride for a quick shot on a cut.

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Trainor knew how many points she needed, as did Ledbetter, her best friend. Some of her teammates, however, were perplexed when the two had a vocal tally going after scores.

“Everyone else kind of figured it out when we kept counting down, ‘All right, six more,'” she said. “They were like ‘What’s six more?’ ‘Oh, 400 points, by the way.’ I didn’t really want to make it a known thing with my team, because I didn’t want it to revolve around me.”

An embrace with her teammates and celebratory airhorns marked No. 400. Trainor credited those teammates with giving her a path to the milestone.

“It’s awesome that I’m the first in Maine history to do it,” she said, “but it’s so easy to assist all these players. It’s not just that I assist to one person. When you can assist to six other players on the field, you can rack up those points a lot easier.”

Trainor fed Ledbetter for four of her six goals.

“She puts in so many hours off (the field) that we don’t see,” Ledbetter said. “It really highlights the dedication that she has to the sport, and how much she pushes herself to be the greatest. … I’ve never seen a more dedicated human in my life.”

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Perkins echoed that point, and said Trainor’s talent and work ethic provide a model for other players.

“What’s so impressive, and I hope that other kids get this, (is that) you have to work hard, you have to put time in and you have to be passionate about what your goals are,” he said. “She’s never hit a peak where she just plateaus. … There’s not a day where she goes ‘I’m just going to go through the motions.’ That doesn’t happen.”

Another milestone is fast approaching: Trainor is seven goals shy of 300, and could reach the number Thursday against Scarborough. Perkins said she would be the first to reach that number as well.

Windham (12-1) is ranked third in the Varsity Maine Top 10. In addition to Trainor’s and Ledbetter’s output, Brooklyn Roy scored four goals, Mady Donnelly and Olivia McPherson each had two, and Morgan McLain and Liz Baker added one apiece.

Portland (1-13) got three goals from Sophie Knoll, while Kristen Mailloux made 13 saves and reached 200 stops for the season.

Drew Bonifant covers sports for the Press Herald, with beats in high school football, basketball and baseball. He was previously part of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel sports team. A New Hampshire...

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