LUNENBURG — Town resident Charlotte Caiozzo is competing in the 5th annual Massachusetts A Shot For Life Clash Against Cancer this coming weekend, joining fellow student-athletes from across the state to play in the lacrosse showcase for a good cause.
The 17-year-old Lunenburg High School (LHS) senior was recruited to play in the Feb. 8 charity event being held at Union Point Sports Complex in Weymouth that is a hybrid between an all-star game for the best lacrosse players in the Commonwealth and a fundraiser for cancer research. Clash Against Cancer debuted in 2022 as part of A Shot For Life’s circuit of events with the goal of bringing together top high school athletes to raise funds for Boston’s Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The event supports research focused on glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. Funds raised help advance innovative immunotherapy treatments, including CAR T-cell therapy, which trains a patient’s own immune cells to recognize and attack cancer.
“It’s super important to me to know I can be part of something bigger,” Caiozzo said. “The fact that I can play the sport I love and also help raise money that could potentially save someone’s life — that’s extremely gratifying.”
Players are first scouted from state lacrosse leagues before being moved on to the interview phase, which all participating athletes go through as well as orientation before ultimately being selected. To donate to Caiozzo’s fundraising efforts visit givebutter.com/8ijkyq and comment her name in the donation so she gets credit for it.
Fellow LHS senior Tatum Furman, who is pursuing a career in communications and journalism, reported that Caiozzo has spent her high school career building herself into a leader in the crease and a cornerstone of the lacrosse program, gaining a reputation as a vocal leader, a resilient competitor, and one of the program’s most dependable players.
He shared that Caiozzo’s athletic career didn’t start with lacrosse. Like many young athletes in town, she grew up playing soccer but the sport that would define her high school years didn’t enter the picture until eighth grade.
“I grew up watching my brother and sister play lacrosse,” she explained to him. “My whole family played, so eventually I just decided to take a chance on it.”
Furman conveyed that that chance quickly turned into a calling. Caiozzo became a goalie, considered one of the most mentally demanding positions on the field, and trained closely with her brother, who taught her fundamentals and helped her become a better player. By her freshman year she was a starter on the varsity lacrosse team as their goalie and the rest is history.
“A lot of times I’m like a quarterback back there,” she told Furman. “I take a leadership role, but I also make sure everyone’s voice is heard. That’s what makes a defense work.”
The talented athlete is off to the University of California Berkley in the fall, where she will play lacrosse for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I school that has a population of approximately 42,000 students.
“I visited in December, committed the next day, and I just officially signed a few weeks ago,” she said late last year. “Berkeley is a place where you’re always being pushed to grow, and that’s something I really value.”
According to Furman’s story she plans to major in political science after originally considering biological sciences.
“I realized this year that I really love politics,” she told him. “I want to do something in government. I don’t know exactly what yet, but I know that’s the direction I want to go.”
As she prepares to graduate, compete in the Clash Against Cancer, and eventually head west, Caiozzo said she’s most excited to keep growing as a player, as a student, and as a person.
“I’m looking forward to continuing my journey in lacrosse,” she said. “But more than that, I’m excited to see where it can take me and how I can keep using it to make a difference.”
Tatum Furman contributed to this story.
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