This is how Elena Hynes described her previous high school lacrosse experiences at Newington and Northwest Catholic:

“I could go on for a half hour,” Hynes, a UConn-bound recent graduate of East Lyme High School, said recently. “The team dynamic at both places was very based around two people. The whole offense and defense was based on ‘let’s sprint the ball down and have two people do something with it’ and there wasn’t that camaraderie between the girls. You would go to practice and nobody would want to hang out afterwards.”

And then as if the universe reveled in irony, Hynes became a stranger in another strange land, this time East Lyme, wondering what her new teammates might be thinking. As in: Is this new kid with the big resume going to be the center of the offense while the rest of us become decorations?

“When I came to East Lyme,” Hynes said, “I had a beach house here for seven years and I only knew one girl. Before I got there, on social media she said ‘this is my friend, she’s coming here and she’s going to (play at) UConn.’ I thought, ‘Oh, my God.’

“At the beginning, from a social aspect, I felt very uncomfortable and I’m not shy at all. So I came in and everybody looked at me like I was a zoo animal. People would stare. Like a movie. Like they’d never seen a new person in their life. I had been the new girl three times, but I felt so much pressure here.”

Ah, but you wouldn’t be reading about her right now were the ending not happy.

Hynes didn’t merely fit in among the Vikings, but was named The Day’s 2017 All-Area Girls' Lacrosse Player of the Year. Her 60 goals and 71 assists helped East Lyme finish an 18-3 season with Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I and ECC tournament titles, plus a trip to the semifinals of the Class M state tournament.

Surely, 60 goals and 71 assists, along with two straight Class M all-state selections, suggest that Hynes made quite the impact. But maybe not as much as the East Lyme experience made on her. The East Lyme program, sustained by coach Phil Schneider after the diligence of original coaches Lori Balantic and Gigi Begin, isn’t merely a success on the field.

“Coming into East Lyme, I learned quickly how everybody plays as a unit,” Hynes said. “People who don’t play sports won’t understand. But in the huddles at Newington and Northwest, I felt very segregated. At East Lyme, everybody was into it. A team thing. It’s such a different dynamic. Getting to experience the different types of dynamics I did, you really appreciate the positive ones.”

Hynes played her junior and senior seasons at East Lyme. It didn’t take long for her to graduate from “zoo animal” to good friend.

“I think coming in, the girls were like, ‘let’s see how this goes,’” Hynes said. “Junior year, I had mono and was out for all of tryouts. I think there was a feeling of ‘OK, this girl’s going to UConn, but she has mono and she’s on the team. Once they got to know me, they realized, 'OK, she’s cool.' In the beginning, it was more ‘who is she?’ But things definitely got smoother.”

It helped, too, that Hynes figured out a way to get in the good graces of all-state goalie Alex Rose. They’ve become besties.

“I didn’t know about her at the beginning,” Hynes said. “She’s tough. Hard to read. Now? We are like best, best friends. It means a lot. I have no trouble saying what I feel. But Alex? I knew I got there when after the Branford game (in the state semifinals), Alex said to me, ‘I’m really glad you came here.’ I knew I made it after that.”

m.dimauro@theday.com

The Day's 2017 All-Area Girls' Lacrosse Team

Player

of

the

Year - Elena Hynes (East Lyme)

Attack - Margit Burgess (Stonington), Sydney Cowell (Old Lyme), Julia Gigliotti (Waterford), Karlie Rowe (East Lyme)

Midfield - Katie Kelly (NFA), Megan Larmann (Ledyard), Jacklyn Lavoie (Waterford), Alyssa Turchetta (Montville)

Defense - Mary Bolles (Old Lyme), Nancy Harrington (East Lyme), Megan Sturm (Waterford)

Goalie - Alex Rose (East Lyme)

Utility - Maggie Berger (Old Lyme), Audrey Matson (Williams)