After the school lacrosse season ends, the hecticness begins for the sophomores looking to play girls lacrosse at the collegiate level. This mix of stress and fun is known as the players’ “recruiting season.” 

Summer club season for these sophomores can be very thrilling. Sophomore Reese King plays for the Long Island Yellow Jackets and said, “I love playing lacrosse with my teammates, who are some of my best friends, and we have so much fun out on the field playing together.” 

Sophomore Lily Graves plays for Legacy lacrosse. She said, “For recruiting season, I am very excited to see what schools will reach out.” Looking forward, Lily is also very interested to see where all her friends will commit to accomplish great things.

Shae Lembo is a senior lacrosse player at St. Anthony’s High School and is attending Stanford University in the fall to play for their Division 1 program. For recruiting season, Shae advised, “Be positive and supportive by cheering on teammates while also playing your best.” 

She also explained that coaches always notice a player’s body language and how they communicate and celebrate with teammates.

Apart from club tournaments, there are showcases that girls can tryout for as well as individual college camps. As someone who successfully completed this process, Shae found that showcases were more beneficial than individual school camps since there were more coaches at showcases. These events show coaches how you play with girls you don’t normally play with.

Division 1 programs are not allowed to reach out or offer players until September 1st of players’ junior year. For Shae, September 1st was a complete whirlwind. She felt very nervous yet so excited because she was finally getting to see her hard work pay off. 

Once schools can start reaching out, Shae kept an open mind and advises girls to not feel rushed to commit somewhere. She said, “There are so many options and you have time to figure out what you like and don’t like about the schools that reach out to you.”

As players start to talk to the coaches of college programs, they can go on visits to meet the girls, coaches, and see campus. Shae had some of the best times and made some really good friends on her visits. 

She said, “You’ll be nervous at first, and that’s okay, because everyone else there is nervous too. But, wherever you are, the school wants you in their program so they’re going to show off all the great parts of their school/program. It’s also great to meet and talk to some of the girls who are already on the team and get a feel for the vibe and energy of the team.”

Good luck to all of the lacrosse players starting this process going into this summer!