With a late game rally against Aquinas College on Feb. 24, the Albion women’s lacrosse team fought back to push into overtime, where they outlasted Aquinas to notch their first win of the season.
Hartland sophomore and midfielder Anna Huard, who has played lacrosse since third grade, said “resilience” and “teamwork” have been “strengths” for the team.
On top of the Brits’ comeback win against Aquinas, the squad showed up once again against Notre Dame of Maryland and defeated the Gators 23-1, with Huard notching eight goals for the team.
With a 2-3 record to start the season, the team already has half as many wins as they did last season. And with more seniors on the team than any other year, along with several former all-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association players, head coach Emily DiRado, alumna ‘16, said the Brits look to “carry on a legacy” in the 2026 season.
Minooka, Illinois senior and goalie Nicole Miller said the team is “driven” and “ready to grow” this spring.
“We have a lot of hard workers and a lot of gritty players,” Miller said. “I’m really excited for the potential of this team.”
Challenges in the Sport
Because women’s lacrosse is still a “rapidly growing sport,” according to DiRado, there are a number of challenges that arise.
“We have a lot of rule changes every year,” DiRado said. “They’re trying to make it faster, more viewable, so my expectations are that we’re competitive.”
These changes, however, don’t just affect a coach; they impact players, too.
“It’s really difficult because there’ll be rule changes in college and then also coming from high school to college, those rules are different as well,” Miller said. “So you’re almost at a clean slate every year.”
In addition to the rule changes, Miller said not many people are “exposed” to women’s lacrosse early on, which makes recruitment a “challenge” as the sport grows.
“There were no middle school teams in my area, so in high school everybody was kind of in the same spot,” Miller said. “We were all learning the sport, learning the rules and all of those things.”
Lansing first-year Ava Sullivan, who began playing lacrosse in 6th grade, said high school coaches would come to their gym and teach lacrosse.
“I didn’t have any spring sports, so I did it. And I stuck with it,” Sullivan said.
DiRado said the newness of the sport can also be a positive aspect for players looking to join.
“Not all high schools have it, so it’s definitely a newer sport,” DiRado said. “I always tell our ladies all the time that it’s a really cool time to be a women’s lacrosse player.”
DiRado’s Time at Albion
According to DiRado, she was not originally interested in lacrosse when she attended Albion College.
“I played basketball when I was a student,” DiRado said. “I actually ended up working as kind of a games manager/team manager for the lacrosse team while I was here.”
After graduating, DiRado got a master’s degree in sports administration from Wayne State University. Meanwhile, Albion’s search for an assistant lacrosse coach led them back to DiRado.
“The athletic director at the time gave me a call and said, ‘We want to welcome you back and teach you how to be a lacrosse coach,’” DiRado said.
This stint as an assistant coach technically makes this DiRado’s 10th season with the team overall and her third as head coach.
Looking Ahead
After a 3-17 defeat to Oberlin College on Saturday, Miller said the Brits are “ready to adapt” to face Augustana this Monday in the second game of their home stand.
“I love to watch film personally,” Miller said. “I love to go back and see my mistakes directly and see what I should have done differently in that moment or what the team could have done differently as a whole.”
With a third of the season already underway, the Brits have yet to play an MIAA opponent, the first of which will be Trine University, who they will face on April 1 at 4pm.
“In general, winning is hard,” DiRado said. “But whether it’s rule changes, injuries or coming up against nationally ranked teams, we have to play four quarters of lacrosse and time and time again they prove that they could do that.”
With an offense full of experience and a veteran goalie to rely on, DiRado said the Brits look to add on to their “exciting” start to the season.
“We’ve kind of coined a no-quit attitude,” DiRado said. “There’s no quit in a Brit.”
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