Bridget Ruskey, By the Numbers: Pride of Stone Harbor’s Numbers Retired in 3 Sports
Bridget Ruskey
Courtesy Press of Atlantic City
When former three-sport star athlete Bridget Ruskey heard the news, she could hardly believe her ears: She would have not one but three of her jersey numbers retired at Middle Township High School.
She would be making school history with the feat. It would be the first time Middle Township High School recognized a multisport athlete by retiring jerseys in three sports. The jersey retirement ceremony was Feb. 5, between a girls’ and boys’ basketball game.
Ruskey, a 2017 Middle Township High School graduate, was a standout in lacrosse, soccer and basketball and later starred in lacrosse at La Salle University.
A framed banner with her jersey numbers – 21 for lacrosse, 12 for soccer, and 5 for basketball – will hang in the gymnasium where she once starred.
“I never even thought that my name would be in the conversation for having one jersey retired, so for having all three numbers, I was just blown away, I was so surprised,” Ruskey says in an interview with Seven Mile Times. “It’s an incredible honor. I can’t thank the people at my school and community enough for thinking of me in that way. I just really appreciate everyone. That whole night was so special. The school administration did such a good job of putting it on. It’s definitely a night I’ll remember forever.”
Asked if any of the sports was ever closest to her heart, Ruskey had an interesting answer.
“They actually are all equally loved,” says Ruskey, who scored 121 career goals in lacrosse at La Salle. “I think that growing up playing all three, I just loved playing all three. In high school, I played all three and I was able to see the field or court in all three of them for all four years, so I think that made me like all of them equally, and then I think it also has to do with my coaches.
“I know sometimes people don’t have the best experiences, but I had a great time with each coach and each one brought a different personality and a different kind of structure to each game, so I really enjoyed going from one to the next.”
One of those coaches Ruskey enjoyed playing for is Middle Township girls’ basketball coach John Leahy. A 5-foot-8 guard, Ruskey finished her career with 1,081 points. Leahy was always impressed with the Stone Harbor girl, on and off the court.
“It is a tremendous accomplishment,” Leahy says of Ruskey having numbers retired in three sports. “I talk to young girls all the time about being a multisport athlete and the benefits of playing multiple sports. And I think Bridget is a prime example of, you can be good at two or three sports and you can excel in multiple sports and still have a tremendous high school career and still get to the next level in college in whatever sport or even multiple sports in college.”
He says she was a great example of what a student athlete is supposed to be. She got great grades in the classroom and she was never in trouble. And she put in the work, always.
“On the field or on the court, she just worked her tail off,” he adds. “Bridget was just a tremendous leader. She was someone who led by example. I think her teammates recognized how hard she worked during the season and in the offseason. There’s nobody that worked harder than her. Her teammates really respected her for that and as a result I think they followed her lead and respected her work ethic. If you look at the teams she played on in all three sports, they were very, very successful and won a lot of conference titles and won a lot of playoff games.”
He feels what set her apart was what she did in the offseason of her sports. She put in the work in each one to constantly improve.
“She developed her skill level in all three sports to an elite level,” he explains. “A lot of kids tend to specialize in one sport way too early and then maybe they just stay OK or average and get pretty good at another one, where Bridget really worked her tail off in all three sports and her skill level was elite in all three sports. She was very driven to be great in all three sports and it showed.”
Ruskey was one of the top high school lacrosse players ever to play in the state and still holds the state record with 485 career goals (and 136 assists), a lofty record indeed. She played attack and led the Panthers to their first-ever South Jersey championship in 2017 and scored six goals in that clinching game.
On the soccer field, the midfielder led the MTHS team in scoring her final three seasons and finished with 41 career goals. As a senior, her three athletic teams were a combined 53-13-2.
Ruskey earned 12 varsity letters during her high school career and was captain on all three sports teams as well.
After a stellar senior season, Ruskey was named the Philadelphia Inquirer 2017 South Jersey Female Athlete of the Year. During her career, she was also a two-time Press of Atlantic City Female Athlete of the Year. She was also a 2017 U.S. Lacrosse First Team All-American.
Ruskey, 26, now lives in New York City and works in marketing.
“I just moved up here in the fall,” she says. “I’m really enjoying it.”
She doesn’t think that coaching is in her future, however, although she’s dabbled in it in the past. She coached an eighth-grade club lacrosse team when she was in Colorado and then in the fall 2023 season, she was an assistant coach for the MTHS girls’ soccer team, which she really enjoyed.
“I don’t think I’ll be committing to coaching full time anytime soon, but I’ve enjoyed all the girls that I’ve worked with and seeing all the young talent and their bubbly spirits,” Ruskey adds. “They’ve always been a blast to work with.”
As a youngster growing up in the area, Ruskey says there wasn’t too much competition for all the sports they played. She played recreation soccer for the most part growing up, although in that sport, they often played coed, which she felt was a really good experience.
“In basketball, I only played rec growing up,” she explains. “In lacrosse, we only had one team for basically all of Cape May County … We would have to go an hour-and-a-half, two hours to play teams on the weekend. We would definitely see a lot more competition going up to places like Cherry Hill or around the Philadelphia area.”
Asked what advice she would give to younger female athletes, she says they shouldn’t take things personally and should allow themselves to be coached so they can improve. That’s what she always tried to do.
“I think what I would tell them is: A, you definitely get out what you put into the sport and to yourself and to the different things that you want to achieve,” Ruskey says. “And then the second thing is the people that are surrounding you, whether it’s your family or your coaches, they definitely want to see the best for you. So if they’re kind of getting on you and at the moment seems like they’re critiquing you or telling you things you need to do differently, it’s for the best because they want to see you do your best.”