Photograph by Tony Lewis, Jr.
This St. Mary’s High School senior is committed to winning on and off the field
Playing nearly year-round for a club team against other elite college prospects and traveling to games up and down the East Coast is part of the commitment that St. Mary’s High School senior Anna Ervin has to lacrosse. Ervin also believes she obtained her lacrosse scholarship to Loyola College of Maryland by improving her skills playing three sports. Ervin stood out in lacrosse, basketball, and soccer for St. Mary’s. She served as co-captain in basketball and lacrosse during her junior year.
“It all translates,” Ervin explains. “My defensive skills in basketball and being able to set picks helps in lacrosse. Soccer puts me in really great shape. I never stop running and hardly come off the field during a game.”
St. Mary’s Girls Lacrosse Coach Tom DeMaio agrees and says three sports were crucial to her receiving a scholarship.
“I think her ability to play three sports has really contributed to her lacrosse game,” DeMaio says. “She competes in soccer and basketball really hard. And that shows on the field in lacrosse.”
Ervin figured her shot at a scholarship was a real possibility when she made the Under Armor All-American Washington, D.C., team as a ninth grader in 2021, and then the Under Armor All-American-Baltimore team the following year.
Ervin, an Annapolis resident, will play all three sports, again, as a senior this year. It’s a path few high school athletes are taking these days. “I couldn’t go without playing those other sports,” Ervin says. “That’s what got me to where I am today.”
The 5-foot-7 midfielder also carries a 4.07 weighted grade-point average. She verbally committed to Loyola in October 2023 and plans to sign a National Letter of Intent in early November.
She has some familiarity with the school since both of her parents, Jennifer and Patrick, played lacrosse at Loyola, which finished the 2024 season ranked No. 13 in the country.
“Both of my parents going there is a cool thing,” she recalls. “I can remember when I was little being dressed up in Loyola stuff. When I visited Loyola, the community, players, and coaches felt like a family immediately. I like their coach’s style, and I like how direct they are. I saw a couple of practices.”
Ervin may have picked up some more knowledge about Loyola from her Baltimore-based M&D club lacrosse club coach, KJ O’Day, who also played and coached lacrosse there. O’Day thinks the school is close to the ideal fit for Ervin, who has played club lacrosse for seven years, including three for M&D.
“She is going to do amazing there,” O’Day says. “The Loyola coaches are just great teachers of the game, and I think they are really going to enhance her skills.”
At St. Mary’s, the girls lacrosse coaching staff has given the 18-year-old Ervin awards for her leadership, selflessness, and consistent high level of play. And like in basketball (defensive specialist, shooting guard) and soccer (midfielder), Ervin will finish her lacrosse career as a four-year starter.
The 2023 season was her best. She ranked third on the team in scoring with 32 points (24 goals, 8 assists), first in ground balls (35), and first in draw controls (45). Ervin showed her tenacity, totaling three ground balls or more in seven consecutive games for the 10-8 Saints. That stellar season earned her Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference honors.
“She is tough, gritty, and competitive,” DeMaio says. “Those are the traits we are trying to push throughout our whole team. That’s where she truly excels in all her sports.”
“She led our team in ground balls and that’s usually a sign of the player being the toughest competitor,” he adds. “We gave her a grit award. She has great finishing skills and she is very good converting our eight-meter shots.”
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