Giancola signs letter of intent to play lacrosse at Vermont

Canton’s Grace Giancola has signed a letter of intent to play lacrosse at the University of Vermont, a Division I school in the America East Conference in the spring of 2018.

CANTON, Nov. 9 – Canton senior Grace Giancola, who has scored more lacrosse goals than any other player in school history, signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Vermont on Wednesday and play lacrosse at the NCAA Division I level.

Giancola, who scored a school-record 115 goals last spring, helped lead the Canton High girls lacrosse team to the first-ever state championship in girls lacrosse with a 15-3 rout over Somers. The Warriors won their first NCCC championship, a NCCC Tournament title and the state championship with a 18-3 record.

Giancola has scored 214 goals in her Warrior career and is a dynamic player, capable of going end-to-end to score. She was named All-State as a junior and sophomore. As a sophomore, she scored with four seconds left in a 12-11 win over Granby and had a goal with 1:19 remaining to lift Canton to its first-ever win over Avon, 10-9.

She owns the school record for most goals in a single game with nine in wins over Watertown and Weston last spring.

Canton’s Grace Giancola (9) and Farmington’s Mia Flynn (9) chase down the ball in a game Canton earlier this fall.

Giancola has also shown the ability score goals playing field hockey. She finished the season this fall with a team-leading 28 goals, helping the Warriors finish second in the NCCC. As a junior, Canton advanced to the Class S semifinals.

Giancola has scored 61 goals in her field hockey career, good enough for No. 4 on the all-time list for career goals. As a junior, she had a pair of goals in overtime to win games. She had an overtime goal to beat Suffield, 3-2. In the Class S tournament, she scored with 4:26 remaining in overtime to help Canton upset No. 5 North Branford and advance to the semifinals.

She will begin playing lacrosse at Vermont in the spring of 2018. The Catamounts went 6-10 last spring. She is the second lacrosse player to sign a letter of intent to play at a Division I school. Amanda Gottlieb, a teammate on last spring’s state championship team, will play at New Hampshire this spring.

Two of Giancola’s former teammates will be playing in college this spring. Kaelyn Oliver will be playing at St. Michael’s College in Vermont while Emma Charron will be playing at Muhlenberg College in Pennslyvania.