ESPN RISE

Every day after getting dropped off the bus from elementary school, Emily Garrity and her big brother, Alex, would race home. And every day, Alex would win.

[+] Enlarge

ESPN RISE Magazine

Emily Garritty is featued on the cover of the Philly edition of May's ESPN RISE Magazine.

"I told her that he's older and he's a boy, so he's going to be faster," says their mother, Margie. "That was unacceptable to her."

To save her daughter some heartache, Margie begged Alex to let his sister win just once. Alex agreed and the next day Emily triumphed. But she immediately knew her brother had lost on purpose and she was madder than ever.

"She didn't speak to me for a few weeks," Alex says.

These days, Emily, a senior lacrosse star at Strath Haven (Wallingford, Pa.), has caught up to her brother and even surpassed him. Alex, a sophomore lacrosse player at Penn State, graduated from Strath Haven holding boys' records in career goals (122) and assists (145).

Emily, a 5-foot-4 midfielder who's one of the nation's best players, has obliterated those numbers. By the end of her junior year, she already had career totals of 292 goals and 165 assists. A 2008 U.S. Lacrosse All-American, she has signed with North Carolina.

For all of Alex's assists on the field, his greatest one came in helping mold his sister into the dominant player she is today. Alex started playing lacrosse as soon as he could walk, the product of parents, Margie and Paul, who both played the game in college. Emily wasn't far behind.

She picked up the game at age 5 and played in a boys' league for two years because there was no local girls' league. But the biggest battles came in the backyard. There, the Garritys would play two-on-two scrimmages -- parents against kids, boys against girls -- and plenty of brother vs. sister games aimed at improving skills.

"There was always competition between me and him," Emily says. "There's no such thing as going easy in my family."

Much like when they would race home, Emily always fell short in these contests. But her mother wasn't going to make things easier. "Emily would come in frustrated and mad because she couldn't beat her brother," Margie says. "My response was, 'If you're going to play with the big boys, you can't come in the house crying when they beat you.'"

So Emily would head back outside, developing a desire to be the best that remains to this day. "The thing that separates her from others is her competitive spirit," says UNC coach Jenny Levy. "She's a true competitor, and it doesn't matter if she's playing pick-up at a summer camp or trying to win a state title."

One day, Alex got mad at his sister, so he dressed her up in goalie gear, stuck her in the net and started firing away. He expected her to give up quickly, but Emily stood in there, taking her brother's best shots.

"She refused to come out, and that's a perfect description of her toughness," Alex says. "She's a fighter."

[+] Enlarge

Steve Boyle for ESPN RISE Magazine

Emily Garritty is taking her game to North Carolina next season.

She's also pretty skilled. She credits her near-unstoppable riser -- a side-arm shot that goes low to high -- to her brother. It's a shot most often seen in the boys' game and it has given goalies fits ever since she picked it up.

By the time she left the backyard for the fields of Strath Haven, no one could stop her. After playing every day against a Division I-bound boys' lacrosse star, she wasn't going to be afraid of facing anyone.

"After the intimidation factor of playing against guys older than you, I wouldn't hesitate, even if a girl was 10 times bigger than me," Emily says.

With her mother the head coach and her father an assistant at Strath Haven, Emily shined from the beginning. She poured in 82 goals and 42 assists as a freshman, leading the Panthers to a 14-8 record. Things would only get better from there. As a sophomore, she netted 100 goals and 57 assists. Strath Haven went 20-3 that year, advancing to the District One Class AA finals, where the team fell to Springfield-Delco.

It may have seemed impossible to outdo those numbers, but Emily managed -- last year, she scored 110 goals with 66 assists. Once again, though, the Panthers came up short in their quest for a district title, losing in the Class AA semifinals to Springfield-Delco.

Playing for her parents isn't always easy. The Garritys are hyper- competitive and take losing very seriously. If there's a particularly bad loss or even a win in which the team didn't play well, they avoid talking lacrosse until cooler heads prevail. "At dinner, all anyone wants to talk about is the game, but no one wants to bring it up," says Alex.

But Emily also knows the benefits of having so many lacrosse experts under the same roof. "I can go to every person in my family for advice," she says. "I don't just go home to a regular family where they pat you on the back and say good job no matter how you did."

Emily thrives in this environment. Despite all her records, she's constantly thinking about ways to get better. While her legendary scoring exploits make headlines, it's her unyielding work ethic that makes it all possible.

"She's always held herself to a standard that's almost unachievable, and that drives her to excellence," Alex says. "I'm around a lot of lacrosse players, and she plays more lacrosse than anyone I've met."

Emily maintains that she still hasn't beaten Alex in any backyard lacrosse games, but he's not so sure.

"She can do things I can't do, so I just try to stay inside these days," he says with a laugh. "I have a reputation to uphold, so I can't have her embarrassing me in front of the neighbors. I really think she's a better player than I am."

And his mom didn't even ask him to say that.

Ryan Canner-O'Mealy covers high school sports for ESPN RISE Magazine.