From passing the ball around in the backyard to sharing the field for two years, Central Connecticut defenders Jane and Keeley Henry’s time on the lacrosse field is coming to a close.

Jane Henry first stepped on the field for CCSU in 2015, while it took her younger sister two years later, transferring after her freshman year at UMass Lowell. Coming from Horsham, PA, the sisters started playing the sport together when lacrosse first graced the small town.

Head coach Betsy Vendel noted that the sisters push each other to work hard on the field and always “have each other’s backs.”

“If Keeley is the one getting turnover, or the caused turnover, Jane is the one breaking upfield to be her support [at] that moment,” Vendel said. “Jane gets that ground ball Keeley breaking out the line to help her out. I don’t know if it is a sister thing, but they almost just read each other in that sense.”

The duo attributes their success on the field to training together in the summer and winter and their joint workouts and lifts during the season. The comfort in knowing there is someone to help drive their success enables the two to be their best, especially on the field.

“I thought it was kinda weird, but also not at the same time because we are familiar with each other,” Jane Henry stated. “I think we definitely, when we play, connect on the field, so it is fun,” Keeley Henry added.

The Henrys did not always play on the same team since they separated by two years. The first time they did so was two years of high school at Hatboro-Horsham. Their chemistry developed significantly as Blue Devils as they went through a bumpy road with inconsistent coaches over the past five seasons. But for the elder Henry, who has had four coaches in her tenure, it was her teammates that drove her on this journey, which will be her keepsake from her time at Central.

“Definitely, just the teammates. The coaches have been inconsistent but my final year, the coaches have been awesome, but I have been playing with the same girls,” Jane Henry stated. “That’s definitely something I am going to remember, we’re going to be friends for the rest of our lives.”

Leaving Central with a Bachelors of Science in Business Management, the senior is contemplating coaching lacrosse in the future, but her main goal is to put her degree to good use in the workforce.

“[I am] just looking to get a job after I graduate and make some money,” Jane Henry concluded.

Though Keeley Henry will bid her sister farewell in just two games, she will continue her lacrosse career at CCSU as Vendel looks to rebuild the program.