At nine years old, Eloise Downes had mastered the art of juggling sticks.
In a flash, she could trade a lacrosse stick for a hockey stick - and vice versa - and not miss a beat on the field or the ice.
Not much has changed since then.
She’s expertly maneuvered the road in front of her through the first half of her high school career, excelling in both sports at elite levels.
Both of her parents were Division I lacrosse players at Boston College and Villanova, so she naturally picked up that sport first as soon as she could start going to clinics.
As she got older, she took a liking to hockey after watching her older brothers, Max and Sean, play. Being the athlete she is, Downes quickly excelled at a second sport.
Shortly after her freshman lacrosse season ended, she was invited to USA Hockey’s 2023 Girls 15 Development Camp. The camp is one of several run each year by the governing body of ice hockey in the United States and welcomes players from across the country for a few days of on-ice skill training, games, off-ice training and more.
“It was really fun because you just got to meet so many new people and there was never any standing around,” she said. “You’re always doing something whether that was playing a backyard game with the other girls or doing team bonding or skating or conditioning. No matter what you were doing, it was always a good time.”
So far, the 2024 calendar year has unfolded in an even more grand fashion.
Downes had a breakout sophomore campaign and backstopped Morristown to its second-ever state lacrosse championship. She earned First Team All-State honors in the cage after averaging 7.13 saves per game across 24 appearances.
Eloise Downes (2) of Morristown sends the ball down field against Mountain Lakes during the girls lacrosse Morris County Tournament semifinal at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ on Wednesday May 8, 2024.Tom Horak | For NJ Advance Media
“I just admire all the families in our program but the Downes in particular (are) just a modest bunch of people that will just do anything for their kids,” added Morristown girls lacrosse head coach Allie Ferrara. “Eloise is just the product of two awesome hardworking parents both super athletic themselves. We’re very, very lucky to have her wearing a Morristown uniform.”
Ferrara has coached Downes in lacrosse for two years and also got to do it when Downes played freshman basketball. She was a force there as well.
On the ice, USA Hockey reached out to her again.
This time, Downes was invited to the 2024 USA Hockey Girls National 16/17 Camp, which takes place in Ohio from July 19-24.
Players born in 2007 and 2008 are eligible and undergo even more training on and off the ice. While it focuses on player development, evaluations are also made and some players go on to earn a spot in the USA Hockey Girls U18 Select Camp in early August. Players there compete for a role on the U18 Women’s Select Team that squares off against Canada in the 2024 U18 Series later that month.
She’ll be joined by Trinity Hall’s standout defenseman, Sienna DeAngelis.
“It’s really exciting and it’s something I really wanted and I worked really hard for,” she said.
While on the lacrosse field, Downes masters keeping the ball out of the cage, on the ice she’s just as good at putting the puck into it.
In her 2023-24 season with the 16U AAA New Jersey Colonials, she scored 28 goals and added 20 assists in 56 games, according to EliteProspects. Downes even scored twice during lacrosse season when her coach allowed her to swap a goalie helmet for goggles and play on the attack for a game.
Understanding how to play both sides — albeit in different sports — has given Downes an edge that most athletes don’t have.
“Being on both sides (offensively in hockey and defensively in lacrosse) definitely translates between sports,” she said. “I think it’s just been really helpful for me in both scenarios because I feel like I know what the other side is thinking and I can anticipate things better.”
There are times when balancing a schedule between the two sports is smooth. Other times it resembles a magic trick.
“It’s definitely a lot, but I just feel like having a lot of passion and wanting it is a big driving factor,” she said. “And I feel like I just enjoy both so much that like it makes it just makes it manageable.”
March is typically strenuous when the girls lacrosse season is starting to take off and the ice hockey season is winding down.
September is also a challenge because on top of lacrosse and hockey, Downes plays tennis for Morristown. Late nights are a regularity for Downes and her family.
Eloise Downes (2) of Morristown makes a save against Ally Phalines (9) of Kingsway during the girls lacrosse NJSIAA Group 4 Final at Hunterdon Central High School in Flemmington, NJ on Saturday June 8, 2024.Tom Horak | For NJ Advance Media
“I feel like sometimes I get really lost in the fall because trying to balance my schoolwork, it becomes a lot,” she said.
Over time, Downes dropped basketball and picked up playing for Morristown’s girls hockey team. The program isn’t at the varsity level, instead playing a JV schedule, but that doesn’t bother her one bit.
It’s a rare chance for her to let loose and enjoy more time on the ice without any pressure. It’s a different environment but Downes loves the camaraderie of being on the ice with her school friends. Coincidentally, because Morristown’s girls hockey team isn’t a varsity program, she would be eligible to play on the school’s boys team if she was asked and if she wanted.
Many girls jump at that opportunity, goalies in particular, but Downes doesn’t feel it’s on her radar as a skater for now.
“I might have thought about it a little and my friends kind of encouraged me to do it but I feel like it would have just been too much going on with club and everything else,” she said.
With girls hockey becoming an officially sanctioned sport under the NJSIAA starting with the 2024-25 season, Downes hopes Morristown can one day make the jump from JV to varsity. She would happily embrace a chance at competing for a Cup championship or state title.
“I always hear about it from my friends who go to Chatham, Morristown-Beard and Kent Place, how they’re winning, they’re going to these Cups,” she said. “I just feel like I’m missing out a little bit sometimes.”
Even though she might not add an ice hockey Cup championship or state title to her resume, she really doesn’t need it.
Downes is setting herself up to have an incredibly bright future in one or both of her favorite sports. Making a decision about which she would rather pursue in college is almost as difficult as balancing them both throughout the year.
“I feel like when I play lacrosse, I’m missing hockey,” she said. “But then when I switch over to hockey, I’m always missing lacrosse. So it’s really hard to decide.”
Fortunately, she still has two more promising years of high school lacrosse and club hockey in front of her to let things unfold and there isn’t a ceiling in sight when she’s on the ice or on the field.
Brian Bobal may be reached at bbobal@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @BrianBobal.
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