Megan Errico loves coaching field hockey, loves teaching the game and loves the interaction with her players. What the 12-year Lawrence High coach found difficult was telling her team she was stepping away from the game. “It was a very difficult decision,’’ said Errico. “I love Lawrence and I love the athletics and working with (athletic director) Anthony Ammirata has been amazing. It was very emotional to leave. It’s super hard to step away, but it’s time because these seniors are a special group.’’ The Cardinals won only 15 games Errico’s first four years, but then in 2017 it all came together. Over the final eight seasons with Errico on the sideline, they were 98-50-6. “The program was getting better in every aspect in different ways throughout those early years,’’ said Errico. “I wanted the players to also do club as there was always talent and we had to change the culture and get our own identity.’’ The 2017 team with seniors Caroline Bartosik, Olivia Corso and Jacquline Yank turned things to a winning  attitude. Once things settled in, Lawrence won four division titles, reached the sectional semifinals twice and in 2021 captured the Mercer County Tournament title with a thrilling 5-4 win in overtime against Princeton Day. “It meant everything,’’ said Errico, of winning the MCT. “It brings tears to my eye when we talk about it. To be on our field and yet be the visitor and in front  of that crowd was unreal and it allowed us to give Talia (Schenck) a trophy.’’ Schenck, who is now a junior on the Princeton University field hockey team, arrived in 2018, and in her four years she became the greatest scorer in Colonial Valley Conference history with 244 career goals. “It was incredible and it was fun to watch when she was there,’’ said Errico, of the Schenck years. “I love coaching because to me it’s like as game of chess, I look at the pieces and putting the players where they are supposed to be. With a player like Talia, skill wise she was the best and I was able to put the players in place to help her.’’ When Errico was player in Media, Pa., she was a defensive player so to see what Schenck was capable of served to make her an even better coach. “I learned so much from her,’’ admitted Errico. “I grew up playing defense and I couldn’t do what Talia could do. She knew so much and I was able to use what she could bring to allow me to help the team and the other players.’’ Lawrence coach Megan Errico, center, holds up the MCT championship trophy after the Cardinals defeated Princeton Day in the 2022 final. (Courtesy of David Adam) When Schenck went on to bigger things, Errico kept the program at a high level with high expectations. She oversaw the growth on another blue-chip Division I player in Caroline Rotteveel. Rotteveel will always be known as the Cardinal who scored the overtime goal off a pass from Schenck to win the MCT. Colgate-bound Rotteveel scored 103 goals in her four year and amassed 259 points. She was a part of a special group of freshman in 2021 that hold a huge chunk of Errico’s heart. “They were freshman when Talia was a senior and they are the last group of kids I taught at Lawrence,’’ said Errico, who is now in the West Windsor-Plainsboro system. “They tasted winning as freshmen and they just ran with it. They are who I’d like my daughter to grow up to be like. They’ve always had a winning record and always had a post season.’’ Errico changed the culture at Lawrence and has left the program with a winning and proud mindset. “We started a lot of traditions and the end was super emotional,’’ said Errico. “All the girls I’ve coached had an effect on me and I hope they are all doing well.’’ Errico had quite a positive effect on them, too.