There were four members of the East Lyme High School girls' lacrosse team who earned first team All-Eastern Connecticut Conference and first team Class M all-state honors.

And as one of them, junior midfielder Sydney Sager points out regarding her accomplished team: "I think there were a couple more" who could have received those same prestigious awards.

That means the scoring numbers were spread out among the players. As East Lyme stormed through the ECC unbeaten and won the league tournament, going on to reach the semifinals of the state tournament, the makers of headlines were varied. The leadership roles were well-distributed. Yet jealousy wasn't a part of the equation.

"The thing about this team, there could be the tendency for people to say 'I want to get mine,'" East Lyme coach Phil Schneider said. "The offense was dominant, the midfield was dominant, but when you look at the numbers you don't see, 'here's a girl that has 100 points or 40 goals and 50 assists.'

"They all shared. They all played hard. They liked being with each other."

Of that distinguished group, Sager was named The Day's 2021 All-Area Girls' Lacrosse Player of the Year. A first team all-state pick for the Vikings (16-1), Sager finished with 33 goals and 12 assists for 45 points, 26 ground balls and seven caused turnovers, but it was her ability to control the midfield which stood out to Schneider.

Sager, also a competitor in cross country and indoor track, can run. She has an expertise in the center circle which doesn't always lead to her controlling the draw herself but shoveling it off to a teammate. She's been voted one of East Lyme's captains for next season and hopes to someday attend the U.S. Naval Academy with the intention of being a marine, a testament to her leadership capability.

When Sager speaks, however, it's usually to credit a fellow Viking.

"I was proud of all my teammates," Sager said. "I think we just created a wonderful team environment. We do team bonding outside of lacrosse. Most of us know each other outside of lacrosse. We just wanted to make this season the best we could. There were no kinks to work out.

"I think it's because we all care about each other; it doesn't matter who gets credit."

Of her knack for steering the draw to her teammates, Sager said:

"If Caroline (Real) and Dylan (Park) weren't there, we wouldn't have gotten any of the draws."

Sager was a freshman when East Lyme won the 2019 Class M title, beating St. Joseph 10-6. She came on about halfway through that season, Schneider said, but was still learning when the season ended. The 2020 season was then canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning this was Sager's first season since that freshman campaign.

She played for the Shoreline Sharks during 2020 and in a women's league in East Lyme, determined to improve despite missing the high school season.

"She missed a year, obviously, but this year she kind of took control of the midfield with our draws," Schneider said. "She has a lot of confidence. She just runs. She can run the whole game. She really took control."

Sager first started playing lacrosse in middle school after she saw her younger brother Drew play the game. She was surprised to learn that the girls' game was played differently, "completely different than what I thought," she said.

Sager has won ECC titles with the Vikings in cross country and indoor track. The most recent came as East Lyme's lacrosse team topped Fitch 21-8 to win the ECC Division I tournament championship, with Sager scoring four times.

"It was exciting," Sager said. "Fitch played well."

Sager, who enjoys reading and volunteers at the Niantic Fire Department, has a 4.0 grade point average and took AP English, AP psychology and AP U.S. history this year. She is the daughter of Eric, a captain in the U.S. Navy and the former commanding officer of the USS California, and Moira Sager.

Sager said this year's East Lyme team, which fell in the Class M semifinals to Joel Barlow by a narrow 12-11 margin, had fantastic leadership, and she hopes that next year's team is just as close-knit and successful as this one.

Said Sager: "I'm looking forward to that."

v.fulkerson@theday.com