This CT mother-daughter, coach-star combo share love of lacrosse

WEST HARTFORD – Meg Cersosimo had her daughter CC right after she stopped coaching the UConn women’s lacrosse team.

CC is her second child and Meg missed one season of coaching before the Conard High girls lacrosse coaching job opened up and she took it.

CC grew up on the Conard sidelines and is now a junior attack for the Red Wolves, who are 12-0 after Saturday’s 18-8 win over Newtown. She is eight goals away from breaking the school record (206) and has 93 career assists. This season, she has 53 goals and 25 assists.

Her mother was in the first recruiting class for the UConn women’s lacrosse team, in 1997. That has come full circle as her daughter will become the first child of a UConn alumnae to play there, as CC has committed to the Huskies.

On Saturday, Mother’s Day weekend, mother and daughter were, of course, coaching and playing in a lacrosse game against Newtown in West Hartford. Sunday, they planned to celebrate the day with Meg’s family in Philadelphia.

“What’s nice for me, speaking of Mother’s Day – in those teenage years, parents are wanting to be a part of something,” Meg said. “The fact that I get to be part of something that is (CC’s) most favorite thing is pretty special. And she’s doing it with her best friends and I love these kids like they are my own and I treat them they’re like my own and I think there’s a reciprocal respect and that’s why we are who we are.

“Not many people get that opportunity. She allows me to be in her world.”

The Cersosimos are a lacrosse family; her husband Matt – whom Meg met at UConn when he was on the football staff and she was a coach on the lacrosse staff – coaches boys lacrosse and football at Conard and their son Brady plays both. Their youngest, Maggie, is in eighth grade and also plays lacrosse. The children’s grandfather Rob Cersosimo is an assistant coach for the girls team.

“It’s awesome,” CC said. “Even when I was super little, I was coached by my mom. It’s a special bond we have that no one else does. I cherish that bond.”

Meg, then Meg Campbell, grew up in Malvern, Pa. and played soccer and lacrosse in high school. Her team won the state soccer title her freshman year and advanced to the state finals in lacrosse her senior year.

She was a defender at UConn from 1998-2001, became an assistant coach upon graduation and was the head coach for two years before Brady was born.

“It was just a lot,” Meg said. “I stopped coaching and always figured I could go back to coaching. After I left UConn, I got pregnant with (CC). I took one season off and then this job opened up. I’ve been here ever since.”