Summer Splash: Transfer Haul Tees Up Northwestern’s Next Act

Northwestern is rarely short on star power. Some of the game’s biggest names have made it in Evanston, from Kristen Kjellman Marshall to Izzy Scane to Madison Taylor.

The 2026 roster will be no different, and not just because of Taylor, a back-to-back Tewaaraton Award finalist who scored an NCAA-record 109 goals in 2025. Taylor will be joined by four of the most coveted players to enter the transfer portal in attacker/draw specialist Madison Epke (James Madison), goalie Jenika Cuocco (Drexel), defender Annabel Child (Harvard) and attacker Olivia Adamson (Syracuse).

To call it a haul is an understatement. It also came as a (pleasant) surprise to the players who were part of it.

“I had no clue until a little bit before the news got released to the media,” Cuocco said. “There are so many opportunities that this group brings, and I’m excited to see how we gel. We bring strengths individually, but we can also learn a lot from the returners.”

The portal raid may also come as a surprise to lacrosse fans. Northwestern’s use of the portal is a reversal to its earlier post-pandemic strategy in the summer of 2021 — three years and seemingly generations ago. The additional year of eligibility granted because of the shortened 2020 season ushered in a new era for transferring (NILs didn’t hurt).

That season, the Wildcats opted to largely forgo the opportunity to get grad transfers or even athletes with more than one year of eligibility left, largely keeping its core lineup full of players recruited out of high school.

Northwestern lost to North Carolina in the final four the following season. The Tar Heels’ seven-goal comeback came on the back of a five-goal performance by Sam Geirsebach, a graduate transfer from Richmond. The irony was not lost on head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller who, after the game, remarked, “The transfer beat us.”

Since then, Northwestern has brought in numerous impact transfers, starting with Hailey Rhatigan, who came over from Mercer in 2023 and dropped 62 goals — second only to Scane in the Big Ten. Northwestern came out on top in that year’s NCAA championship game for its first title since 2012. Rhatigan posted a hat trick in the final. Molly Laliberty, a star at Division III Tufts, was in net, a post she reclaimed in 2024 before passing the torch to another grad transfer, Delaney Sweitzer of Syracuse.

And yet the flurry of this summer and past ones isn’t a mea culpa or even rocket science. It’s quite simple, really. The Northwestern staff worked the portal because recent entrants worked with the program’s system and culture.

“It has to be the right situation,” Amonte Hiller said. “The last couple of years, we found a few transfers that have been a strong fit, and that carried over to this year, too. Obviously, we still have to develop our own players.”

And the Wildcats continue to do that. They have five-star recruits arriving on campus alongside the transfers in defender McKenzie Brown (Timonium, Md.) and attacker Kyle Finnell (Garden City, N.Y.).

Yet it’s hard to deny the roster overhaul Northwestern experienced in May, losing eight starters — Sweitzer, three of its top five scorers (Riley Campbell, Niki Miles and Emma Bohlig), defenders Sam Smith and Jane Hansen and transition dynamo Sammy White.

But the portal allowed the Wildcats to bridge the gap between past and future, and it’s often easier to gauge how a 20-something fits compared to a high school junior or senior.

“Kids are more mature when they’ve been through college seasons and know what they want,” Amonte Hiller said.

Epke knew precisely what she wanted when she entered the portal: To play for Northwestern.

“​​I went to the national championship game, and on the way home, I talked to my parents and said, ‘I want to be at Northwestern next year. I’m going to do whatever I can to get myself there.’”

Entering the portal was arguably the biggest and most important step for Epke, who credits James Madison for “putting her on the map” after she got few calls from blue bloods as a student-athlete at Guilford (Conn.).

“I didn't get a lot of top offers at all,” Epke said. “JMU was the biggest. I decided to take a chance on it, even though I hadn’t seen the school because of COVID. I told my parents, ‘I want to be at the best possible program, compete and prove myself.’”

Epke did that, breaking the program record for career draws (485) in just three seasons while pouring in 65 goals last spring. The interest in her was far different this time around. Johns Hopkins, North Carolina and Boston College were among the schools to call. But Epke was drawn to Evanston not just for the program’s legacy of success, but also because of Amonte Hiller.

The two worked closely together as part of the U20 Women’s National Team that won gold in Hong Kong, China, last summer and share a deep passion for the draw.

“I loved how focused she was on the draw,” Epke said. “It’s important to her, which was awesome because it’s important to me. Since I started taking draws in fifth or sixth grade, I’ve been so focused on learning new skills. [Amonte Hiller] and I shared an appreciation for draws, and she recognized my talent. She chose me for the U20 team, which meant so much to me.”

The appreciation was mutual — both then and now.

“The draw is hard, so you have to have a lot of trust in your coach,” Amonte Hiller said. “She was very communicative, highly coachable and asked a lot of questions [last summer]. When she went into the portal, she was excited about us off the bat. As soon as we saw her go in, we said, ‘She’d be an absolute good fit.’ And she played with some of our players on the U20 team and was like family to them, so there’s a high level of comfort.”

Players like Taylor, whom Epke can’t wait to get into the circle with.

Like Epke, the sport’s power program didn’t have Cuocco on speed dial when she was playing at Rocky Point (N.Y.) High School. But they did in the summer of 2024, when Cuocco entered the portal following an All-American season that saw her lead Division I in save percentage (.569). Cuocco ultimately stayed at Drexel, a program she initially chose for its coaching staff and location in Philadelphia.

“The great thing about the transfer portal is that you can see your opportunities,” Cuocco said. “Drexel is such a special place. I didn’t necessarily want to leave. It was too hard a decision, and I knew I had the option to go somewhere for my fifth year. I wanted to finish the book I started at Drexel, so I decided to stay.”

Cuocco re-entered the portal last winter but focused on her season with Drexel, closing the book on her Dragons career with an 18-save showing in a 12-10 CAA championship game loss to Stony Brook. Amonte Hiller saw it.

“She played out of her mind,” Amonte Hiller said.

Cuocco had spoken with the Northwestern staff the previous summer, and reconnecting felt seamless.

“We picked up right where we left off,” Cuocco said. “But this time, I was able to take a visit and meet them in person. It was important to see the school and the dynamic I’d have with the coaches. I was looking for a place with a strong culture.”

Northwestern has that, and it’s been a draw for transfer goalies in Sweitzer and Laliberty as well as recruits out of high school in Francesca Argentieri and Cara Nugent. Amonte Hiller said both plan to stay. Having three viable options in net is a good problem to have.

Child, who totaled 24 caused turnovers and 34 ground balls for Harvard last season, knows what it’s like to fight for one spot. She did that as a team with Harvard but came up short last season. The Crimson were one of the final teams left out of the NCAA tournament, and that spurred her to find a way to keep playing.

“It’s devastating not to hear your name when you were hoping to hear it,” Child said. “We were proud as a program to be in a place where we could watch the Selection Show together and hope our name was going to be called, which wasn’t a guarantee earlier in my career.”

An Ontario native, Child chose Harvard in part because it’s arguably the United States’ most recognizable institution. She started getting looks when she arrived at The Hill, an athletic-centric institution in Ontario that also produced North Carolina defender Brooklyn Walker-Welch.

“I wouldn’t say I was recruited like a typical American that has 100 calls,” Child said. “Academics have always been important, and I had always dreamt of going to Harvard.”

Child met Campbell in Cambridge. Campbell transferred to Northwestern last season, posted 37 goals and encouraged Child to express interest in the Wildcats (and the Wildcats to do the same for Child).

Amonte Hiller knew all about Child, having scouted against her when she was on Canada’s U20 squad.

“She was this athletic lefty player all over the field,” Amonte Hiller said. “She did it all for Harvard and is a bright person. She’ll fit right in, and we’re excited about helping her develop.”

Speaking of rivals, Adamson fit that bill out of Syracuse. The Wildcats and Orange have a longstanding non-conference matchup every regular season and frequently clash in late May. Unlike her fellow transfers, Adamson wasn’t overlooked in high school. Instead, she committed to Syracuse in eighth grade when Gary Gait was at the helm and before the new recruiting rules took effect.

She called her time there “a dream.” She arrived on campus during Kayla Treanor’s first season as head coach and played in a pair of final fours.

But last year turned into a nightmare for Adamson, who saw her final spring in Salt City end in February. Following a three-goal game against Cornell on Feb. 18, Adamson sustained a lower-body injury that sidelined her for the remainder of the season. She thought her lacrosse career was over.

“I wasn’t totally sure I was going to play again,” Adamson said. “During the year, my thought process was, ‘I’ve done everything I ever set out to do.’”

Then, Adamson turned the page and felt the book was unfinished.

“I still had gas left in the tank,” Adamson said. “If my body would let me play another year, I decided I was going to try. I felt like I’d regret not trying again and wanted to end on my own terms.”

Adamson was shut down from February to May but began physical therapy in late spring, which has continued into the summer. Adamson and Epke already share something in common: Adamson’s biggest shift was mental.

“My first challenge was that I didn’t think I ever saw myself playing anywhere else than Syracuse,” Adamson said. “Then, I decided I wanted a change. When I went on campus and was around the team and the culture, I thought, ‘Wow, I could see myself there and loving it.’”

Still, some days, Adamson has to remind herself she traded the orange and blue for purple and white.

“It definitely is weird,” Adamson said with a laugh. “Every once in a while, I tell my parents, ‘I can’t believe it.’ It’s definitely something that takes getting used to, but I’m grateful. Northwestern has such a tradition of playing at the highest level and winning. It feels unreal.”

Amonte Hiller is embracing the opportunity to have Adamson on her side rather than having to scout against her.

“Olivia is incredibly skilled and smart,” Amonte Hiller said. “She is dynamic all around, and we’re excited for her potential. She struggled injury-wise last year, but she’s taken the time to get her body where it needs to be.”

As for whether the new house settlement rules on roster sizes and scholarships impacted the strategy this year, Amonte Hiller said “not really,” though she concedes it’s something she’ll be mindful of moving forward. For now, Amonte Hiller is focused on taking this year’s team where it needs to be.

She has high expectations for 2026, as with any other season in Northwestern. But she knows that even with all the seasoned veterans, many players will be new to one another and the Wildcats’ system. It’s a journey she’s ready to take.

“It’s all part of the process,” Amonte Hiller said. “I expect them to embrace one another and lift each other up.”

They may be new to one another, but they’re all already on the same page on that front.

“Our major goals are to be playing late in May,” Child said. “I obviously want to win a national and Big Ten championship. But I also want to take my game to the next level and have an impact on a team with a different playing style and roster. I hope to push myself outside of my comfort zone, make a positive impact and become a leader at a different school. I don’t have experience at Northwestern, but I have four years in college and hope to help the younger players and drive the team forward.”