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Teammates Rally For College Lacrosse Stars From Oakland, Long Island Killed In Crash

Current and former members of the Mount Olive University women's lacrosse team are trying to help the families of two teammates -- one from Bergen County, the other from Long Island -- who were killed in a crash in North Carolina last week.

Ann Wray (l.), Madison Mergl (inset)

Ann Wray (l.), Madison Mergl (inset)

Photo Credit: GoFundMe

The group launched the GoFundMe campaigns for the families of Ann Wray and Madison Mergl to "bring [them] home and to pay for all unexpected funeral costs," wrote one of the players, Caitlin Gore.

Wray, a sophomore agribusiness major who starred at Indian Hills High School in Oakland, and Mergl, a freshman exercise science major, were in a Jeep with several classmates that was t-boned by a dump truck on a two-lane highway in Mount Olive shortly before 1 a.m. Friday, the North Carolina Highway Patrol reported.

Wray and Mergl were killed, authorities said.

Five others were airlifted to the Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, they said.

Wray, who also played goalie for the Indian Hills HS soccer team, made second-team all-county in lacrosse her junior and senior years.

She was "a complete ray of sunshine, bringing it along wherever she went," the GoFundMe page dedicated to her family says. "Ann was always known to be herself and live freely, and her laugh always brought a smile to anyone's face who heard it."

Mergl "was always happy and had the most genuine, sweetest soul," the GoFundMe page dedicated to her family says.

"Her laugh was contagious and always brought light to any situation," it says. "You could count on her to always have a great time."

Four teammates on the UMO women’s lacrosse team with Wray and Mergl were hospitalized. The fifth is a former baseball player who was visiting his girlfriend.

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