Mt. Blue’s Chloe Roberts is the 2023 Sun Journal All-Region Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year after racking up 51 goals and 14 assists this season. Jamie Ranger Photography

Chloe Roberts was an offensive force for the Mt. Blue girls lacrosse team this season.

The junior attacker scored 51 times and tallied 14 assists in 12 games for the Cougars, an offensive output that has earned her the 2023 All-Region Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year.

Roberts said she became a more effective scorer through playing for the Maineiax Lacrosse program in Portland during the offseason between this season and 2022, when she scored 25 goals as a sophomore.

“I think a lot of it comes from the technical skill of playing on different travel teams and going to different camps,” Roberts said. “I have been exposed to different types of lacrosse and different ways people play it. I think that helps me, and I learn things from a bunch of different people.”

One thing she learned prior to the 2023 season was tricking and sneaking by defenders, and she made sure her teammates knew she would make a backdoor cut to the goal.

Roberts also was the leader of the offense, calling out plays and cuts.

Mt. Blue coach Elizabeth LeClair said Roberts is the type of player every team wants to have.

“She just has an eye for the goalie and getting the ball in the back of the net,” LeClair said. “She’s so hungry to score and every attack needs someone like that.”

Roberts’ dedication to lacrosse runs in her family. Her father, Pete, played at Mt. Blue, as did her brother, Keegan, who just completed his sophomore season with the men’s team at Bentley University.

Mt. Blue junior Chloe Roberts netted 51 goals and dished out 14 assists this season. Jamie Ranger Photography

“It’s always been in the family; it’s always been a part of my family,” Chloe Roberts said. “I just grew up playing it.”

Roberts reached high school soon after girls lacrosse became a varsity sport at Mt. Blue. LeClair said that while the sport growing in Farmington it is key to have someone like Roberts, who is passionate about the sport, leading the team.

“Having someone like Chloe who travels to play and plays year-round … inviting other teammates come out to play and get them playing year-round is nothing but benefit our team, for sure,” LeClair said.

Roberts scored five and seven goals in the first two games of the season, both against Lawrence, then netted five more against Gardiner/Hall-Dale. But she cemented her status as the Cougars’ No. 1 option in the fourth game, an 11-7 win over Fryeburg Academy.

“It was one of our first games when I scored (six) goals,” Roberts said. “I think that’s how I really proved myself, and it was, ‘OK, she’s going to be the one that finishes it for us.'”

It wasn’t just the number of goals Roberts scored, but that she put the team on her shoulders and led it to a come-from-behind victory.

“We were down quite a few goals to (Fryeburg), and she knew she had a job to do and she got the ball in the back of the net,” LeClair said. “I want to say she scored six goals in a row to get us back up, and we actually won the game.

“She’s just one of those players that loves to find the back of the net and will work to get that opportunity for herself.”

Roberts said this year’s team had a close bond that led to on-field success. Mt. Blue went 8-7, which included earning the eighth seed in the Class B playoffs before its season ended with a 15-2 quarterfinal loss to eventual state champion Greely.

“Just having that chemistry as a team and knowing your teammates got your back and knowing what each of you can do well and can’t do well. I think just having that chemistry contributes to it,” Roberts said.

Roberts didn’t play against Greely in the quarterfinals because her season ended when she rolled her right ankle in the third-to-last regular season game against Lewiston.

“I was looking forward to our playoff game — which we still did very well in, even without me,” Roberts said. “I was looking forward to it, but I was just happy to see my team out there, playing.”

Being injured at the end of the season makes her hungry for her senior year of lacrosse.

“I am ready to go out there and dominate everyone and beat every team we play,” Roberts said. “I am just ready to be the best.”