One Player to Watch on Every Team in the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Tournament

The NCAA women’s lacrosse tournament starts Friday with first-round games before the second round on Sunday determines who will play in the national quarterfinals next Thursday.

Each of the 29 teams enter May with hopes of a deep run, leaning on at least one of their standout players who are capable of turning the tide.

Here’s one key player from every tournament team you’ll want to keep your eyes on as the chase for the championship begins.

Carly Bernstein, A, Duke

Bernstein bears a lot of the traits of this year’s Duke team. There’s not a lot of flash, but the Blue Devils can’t be overlooked. She put together her best year with a team-leading 68 points on a balanced 39 goals and 29 assists to help Duke to its best record in recent years. Four of her goals were game winners.

McKenzie Blake, A, Princeton

Choosing just one of Princeton’s three-headed monster of an offense — which also includes Jami MacDonald and Haven Dora — is like picking a favorite child. But Blake was the unanimous pick for the Ivy League Attacker of the Year and sits in the top five in Division I with 4.18 goals per game. As she goes, Princeton goes.

Chase Boyle, M, Loyola

A Tewaaraton Award finalist in 2024, Boyle is Loyola’s engine. She became the program’s career leader in goals and draws, and she and Georgia Latch will factor heavily in scoring and possession if the Greyhounds are to put together an NCAA tournament run.

Annie Burton, M, Brown

The single-season program leader with 53 assists, Burton sparks an offense that ranks 17th nationally in scoring. She is sixth in the country in assists per game after posting four in each of her final two Ivy games. Burton is one of 14 seniors that helped the Bears to their first Ivy League tournament appearance.

Jenna Collignon, A, Yale

Yale began the season with huge expectations after reaching the NCAA quarterfinals last year, and the three-time unanimous Ivy first-team selection is the sort of talent that’s part of a deep senior class be putting it all on the line for a deeper run. Collignon has always made huge plays for the Bulldogs, like this year’s steal-turned-OT-winner against Penn in the regular season. The team leader in goals and draw controls will try to do the same now in the NCAA tournament.

Kaitlyn Davies, M, Florida

Two things make Davies so important to Florida. First, she is a junior with tons of field experience from last year’s final four trip, something that is rare for the young Gators team. Second is everything else. She contributes everywhere. The Big 12 Midfielder of the Year ranks in the top three on the team in goals, ground balls, caused turnovers and draw controls.

Alyssa Daley, Draw/D, Navy

The draw control ace gives the Mids a huge possession advantage. Ranked third nationally in draw control percentage, Daley won the final draw in regulation to allow Navy a chance to tie Loyola and eventually win the Patriot League tournament in overtime. In eight of the last nine games, she has had at least 13 draws.

Jordan Dean, Draw/D, UMass

Jordan Dean enters the tournament in the top five in draws per game in Division I and corralled a gaudy 23 draws in a game against Duquesne in March, the most for a Minutewoman since 2021. She has 198 draws this season and a program-record 634 draws during her career.

Brigid Duffy, M, Army

Duffy simply does it all for the Cadets. The junior midfielder led the Patriot League in goals (3.88) and ground balls (2.81) per game, was second in caused turnovers (1.94) per game, third in points (5.25) per game and fifth (5.88) in draw controls.

Maddie Epke, Draw/A, James Madison

A force in the circle (227 draw controls) and on attack (63 goals, 21 assists), Epke, a gold medalist with the U.S. Women’s U20 National Team, does a lot of a lot for the Dukes.

Kate Galica, M, Virginia

The first Hoos player to be ACC Midfielder of the Year, Galica isn’t just a record-setting draw specialist. She’s a speedy middie who is also second on the team in goals and tied for the team lead in caused turnovers. She sparks runs for the Cavaliers and keys their postseason chances.

Brooke Goldstein, A, Clemson

The Tigers are at their best when the freshman is setting up their scorers, and Clemson is down second-leading scorer Kayla Macleod for the tournament. In Clemson’s six losses, Goldstein’s had just six total assists. She’s had 10 in her last three games and 34 over the Tigers’ 13 wins.

Sienna Hinchcliffe, A, Akron

The Rochester, N.Y., native leads the Zips with 59 goals, none bigger than the overtime winner she scored in Saturday’s MAAC championship that lifted the Zips to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

Amanda Kozak, A, Fairfield

Kozak leads the Stags with 71 points on 34 goals and a team-high 37 helpers. She produced 14 points in the MAAC championship, helping the second-seeded Stags avenge last year’s tournament heartbreak and win the thing in 2025. Naturally, Kozak was named the tournament’s MVP.

Kate Levy, M, North Carolina

Levy’s childhood friend and redshirt freshman Chloe Humphrey is (rightfully) getting attention this year. But with the Humphrey sisters drawing much of Boston College’s eyes in the ACC championship game, the freshman midfielder was able to start her own career highlight reel when she drove the length of the field and scored to give the Tar Heels a two-goal cushion late in the fourth quarter. Friday’s second-round game marks another childhood dream come true for Levy, who grew up on the sidelines watching her mother, Jenny, coach, and always wanted to become one of “Mommy’s girls.”

Emma Muchnick, M, Syracuse

The Orange midfielder has posted career highs in goals, ground balls and caused turnovers. The young team will need the U.S. Women’s U20 gold medalist’s experience and playmaking, particularly her goal scoring. The Orange, who rank 55th in scoring offense, have won just twice this season when she hasn’t scored multiple goals.

Mylie Norton, G, LIU

The NEC Goalkeeper of the Year has a career-high 10 wins and has come up big in big spots. She was NEC tournament MVP last year, and she’s ranked 16th nationally in save percentage for a defense that ranks fifth in scoring defense at 8.65 goals per game allowed. She’s stopped a combined 38 shots in her last four games.

Reagan O’Brien, D, Johns Hopkins

If you like defense, keep an eye on O’Brien, who is on a historic tear. The defender and U.S. Women’s U20 gold medalist became the NCAA single-season record holder and Johns Hopkins’ career leader in caused turnovers in the Blue Jays’ one-goal loss to Northwestern in the Big Ten semifinals. O’Brien has caused 85 turnovers this season, 10 of which came in Hopkins’ 13-8 win over Penn State — a single-game program record.

Michaela O’Connor, D, Boston College

In the ACC title game, O’Connor did what no other defender has been able to do this season: Hold UNC attacker Ashley Humphrey without a point. Though the Heels prevailed, it was an impressive performance from a player who entered her junior year with only five appearances but has started every game this season following the graduations of Sydney Scales and Hunter Roman. 

(Cheating here, but Rachael Clark is on record-watch. Clark has scored 91 goals this season, putting her 12 goals away from matching Abby Hornes’ single-season mark of 103 goals set in 2022. So, you should watch her, too.)

Erin O’Grady, G, Michigan

O’Grady is a senior and two-time Big Ten Goalie of the Year after she ranked second nationally with a .540 save percentage, but she was pulled in the Wolverines’ Big Ten quarterfinal win over USC and did not play in their semifinal loss to Maryland. She’ll have to put that behind her to anchor a Michigan defense that ranks seventh in the country. If she can’t, it’ll be Maya Santa-Maria getting the call.

Aliya Polisky, A, Stanford

Polisky has chartered an unlikely path in lacrosse. A product of not-hotbed Tennessee, she chose to go West to Stanford, where Danielle Spencer is seeking to make the Cardinal the first Pacific Time Zone team to win it all. Polisky, who holds the 100-meter dash record at Franklin High School, helped Stanford hit the ground running in its first season in the ACC, leading the Cardinal to a 7-2 mark and a tournament semifinal appearance with 59 goals. The journey continues.

Taiva Reinertson, A, Liberty

Reinertson broke the Flames’ single-season goals record in Saturday’s ASUN championship game. ​Reinertson tallied four goals to bring her 2025 total to 54, two more than Katy Pridemore did for Liberty in 2015. She added two assists to her ledger to help the Flames secure their first-ever NCAA tournament berth after falling in the conference tournament finals in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Olivia Ripple, A, Denver

The sophomore is one of those Pios that had to take a huge step after massive graduation losses. She has. After scoring 13 goals last season – and only one in the postseason – Ripple scored 11 in the Big East tournament to earn Most Outstanding Player honors. She is the team’s best finisher with a team-leading 63 goals, while Lauren Black, Raegan Wilson and Eva Thomsen-Marr are more consistent feeders.

Mackenzie Salentre, D, UAlbany

Salentre caused a career-high six turnovers in the America East championship game. The 2024 conference Defensive Player of the Year has helped the Great Danes’ late surge.

Orly Sedransk, G, Penn

Veteran leadership, especially on offense, has reigned supreme in the Ivy League. But Sedransk stood her own between the pipes. She won Goalkeeper and Rookie of the Year in the Ancient Eight after leading the conference in save percentage (.495) and saves per game (9.33) during the regular season.

Abby Soltys, D, Mercer

The Big South Defensive Player of the Year will be charged with covering top attacker from Florida, likely Gianna Monaco. Soltys led the Bears with 25 caused turnovers and 31 ground balls. In the Big South title game win over High Point, she helped hold the nation’s No. 2 offense to eight goals, its second-lowest output of the season.

JJ Suriano, G, Maryland

Suriano (9.66 GAA,.478 SV%) got Andy Hawkins-ed in the Big Ten championship game. (Hawkins pitched a no-hitter for the Yankees in a 4-0 loss to the White Sox in 1990.) The sophomore made 18 saves, letting in eight goals in an 8-7 heartbreaker to Northwestern. But the first-year starter gets to play on this May.

Madison Taylor, A, Northwestern

Northwestern will need more than Taylor to get to another NCAA championship game, but the stars have to come out in the biggest moments. The Wildcats will need Taylor at her best to get by favorites North Carolina and/or Boston College.

Charlotte Wilmoth, A, Stony Brook

Wilmoth totaled 11 points (six goals, five assists) to lead Stony Brook to its 11th conference tournament crown in the Joe Spallina era (eight in the America East and three in the CAA). Wilmoth has tallied multiple points in every game for the Seawolves after transferring in from UMass, and she’s netted at least three goals 13 times.