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Skyridge freshman Summer Buechner is the 2025 Daily Herald Girls Lacrosse Valley Player of the Year.

Courtesy Mike Mills

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Summer Buechner (left) and her brother Cabell pose for a photo during a lacrosse camp.

Courtesy Michelle Buechner

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Syridge freshman Summer Buechner is the 2025 Daily Herald Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year.

Courtesy Mike Mills

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Skyridge freshman Summer Buechner scoops up a loose ball during the 6A semifinal game against Mountain Ridge at Westminster College's Dumke Field in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, May 20, 2025.

Jared Lloyd. Daily Herald

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Summer Buechner of Skyridge attacks the goal against Lone Peak in a 6A girls lacrosse quarterfinal match in Lehi on Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Courtesy photo, Lyndsay Detro

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Summer Buechner of Skyridge (12) makes a run in a Region 3 girls lacrosse match against Pleasant Grove on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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You think the Buechner family plays hard and fast on the lacrosse field?

You should see them at home.

Lacrosse is as much a part of the Buechner family as breathing and that passion didn’t come by accident. Much of their skill and aggressiveness has been learned in “mini-lacrosse,” a family game played in their basement.

It’s no wonder Skyridge freshman Summer Buechner had such a terrific performance in her first season of high school lacrosse, numbers that made her the obvious choice for the Daily Herald’s Girls Lacrosse Valley Player of the Year.

“She grew in her skills, her leadership and her ability to work every day,” said her mother, Michelle Buechner, who is also her coach at Skyridge. “Didn’t matter the weather or anything else, Summer grew in her ability to manage that type of schedule and constant effort. She pushed everybody throughout the offseason and when it got to the season she was one bringing the intensity to practice.”

Summer Buechner racked up 165 points in her freshman season  — top ten in the country, according to MaxPreps — with 75 goals and 90 assists, the latter mark second among the nation’s high schoolers. She shot 79% (75 goals in 95 shots) and also contributed 63 ground balls and 146 draw controls.

She credits playing rough and tumble mini-lacrosse in her basement as a big factor in her skill development.

“One Christmas my parent bought a mini-lacrosse goal set for my little brother,” Summer said. “We didn’t touch it for a year, but then we started playing and broke the goal and the sticks. Eventually, my parents bought a nicer mini-goal and some mini-lacrosse sticks. The basement is tiny and narrow so its really helped me with my hand-eye coordination, being able to catch the ball and making shots.”

Michelle Buechner defined the terms of play of mini-lacrosse: No rules and anything goes.

“The kids have played lacrosse to the death since they were little,” she said. “Everyone takes a turn in goal and there’s not a big space down there. Our kids are competitive. They’d box out each other getting into the fridge.”

Two of Summer’s older sisters played at Skyridge and now compete in college lacrosse. Haven Buechner is attending the University of Richmond. She tore her ACL last summer but Michelle Buechner said her daughter is “killing it” in rehab and will play for the Spiders in the fall. River Buechner competes at Division III powerhouse Pomona Pitzer. Cabell, a junior, plays for the boys lacrosse team at Skyridge and won the Daily Herald Valley Player of the Year as well.

“I’ve played a lot of lacrosse since I was little,” Summer Buechner said. “I grew up watching games every weekend and saw how people played the game. I saw that the most successful way to win games was by passing and sharing the ball. My goal at the beginning of the season was to have more assists than goals, to grow with our team and bond with them. I think passing makes lacrosse prettier and pretty lacrosse is the way I want to play.”

Michelle Buechner and her husband, Eric, both grew up in Virginia, the heart of lacrosse country in the United States.

“We fell in love with the sport and could never get away from it,” Michelle Buechner said. “When we moved to Utah the first team we put together for our girls was 3rd and 4th graders from four different schools. Before the UHSAA sanctioned lacrosse, River’s team was combined from Skyridge, Westlake and Lehi. Now we have three teams at Skyridge: Varsity, JV and sophomore. We’re the only program in the state with a sophomore team (which plays a JV schedule). There’s been such incredible growth in the state.”

Skyridge relied on Summer Buechner and a very talented freshmen class to reach the 6A semifinals but Coach Buechner also credits her two senior captains, Gabby Hessing and Lily Withers, for this season’s success.

“Gabby and Lily were the only kids that didn’t miss a day of practice,” Coach Buechner said. “They showed complete dedication and unbelievable leadership.”

Coach Buechner describes Summer this way: “She’s a fantastic, gregarious friend, a little Miss Social. She’s was counting the locations of her friends on her phone the other day in the car. She loves being with her friends and recruited most of them to play lacrosse. It’s nice as a mom to know who she’s hanging out with.”

While lacrosse takes up a big portion of her time, Summer Buechner said she enjoys reading also plays basketball for the Falcons.

“I like hanging out with my friends and cooking,” she said. “And I’m being forced to take piano lessons.”

Summer Buechner has also learned to democratic with her answers to tough questions.

Who’s the best lacrosse player in the family?

“We’re all pretty even,” she said.