How Katie 'Foss' Facciola Found Her Place in Lacrosse

Katie “Foss” Facciola grew up in a small town in southern Asheville, North Carolina. She didn’t even know of the sport when she found herself watching a replay of a game on ESPN one night during a bout of insomnia.

Facciola’s current DMs and life are a total departure from her mostly lacrosse-less upbringing.

“I string for Katrina Dowd now and then at Brown,” Facciola said. “I was stringing for the Italian national team at the last world games, and Katrina Dowd was there with Ireland. I turn around, and I was like, ‘Oh, hi Katrina,’ and she’s like, ‘What is up, Foss?’”

Dowd isn’t the only lacrosse legend who has Facciola’s number.

“Michelle Tumolo is the nicest person I've ever met,” Facciola said. “Liz [Hogan] will just randomly text me photos of her new dog and we chat about lacrosse.”

These days, that’s normal for Facciola, who has become a household name stringing sticks, dyeing heads and commenting on the game she loves.

The morning after lacrosse kept her awake on the couch, Facciola, a softball-hoops-soccer athlete, told her parents she wanted to play. But the closest club opportunity was three hours away, and her family couldn’t swing it.

Her initiation came at Appalachian State, where she tried out for a new club team that advertised, “No experience required.” That described Facciola, who showed up with a men’s stick. She wound up playing goalie and threw herself into the game.

“I was so desperate to play lacrosse, and I had this gratitude that it was such an honor to play because I had wanted to for so long,” she said. “I researched and studied everything I could about lacrosse. I had a poster of Mikey Powell in my dining room in college because I was obsessed with how fast he was. I had a magazine article about Liz Hogan in my dorm room.”

Facciola graduated in 2012 and joined AmeriCorps. She moved to Massachusetts but was homesick — for lacrosse. She started coaching high school as an assistant at Reading, where she noticed a gap.

“Kids would come up to me and be like, ‘Something is wrong with my stick,’ or, ‘A string popped,’ and they didn’t know how to fix it,” she said.

Facciola again went into study mode. “It became a weird obsession,” she said.

She began by dyeing sticks, which let players express themselves through color and design. She promoted her services on Instagram, an emerging platform at the time.

“Then I was like, ‘Well, I have all these heads — maybe I can practice stringing and see how it goes,’” she said. “At the time, the lacrosse Instagram community was a bunch of girls that were in a group chat that I don’t know how I got invited to. It was a good time in the influencer boom. Everyone was willing to help each other. Everyone wanted to grow the game. We were kind of a team.”

One fast friend was Robin Brown, the influencer behind Laxtractive. Though Brown lived in San Diego, the two flew cross-country to see one another.

“We would string a bunch of heads, hang out and talk about what’s wrong with women’s lacrosse,” Facciola said.

The criticism came from wanting the game to grow, and Facciola felt improved gear was key.

“The pocket is crucial to building confidence and skills,” she said. “It’s like, ‘You’re causing girls to quit because they can’t catch with a ping pong paddle.’”

Facciola realized she had a platform. She began getting invited to conferences, and brands sent her gear. Though the influencer space is now filled with affiliate links and sponsored content, Facciola, who creates social media full time for Ventures Endurance, didn’t bite then and isn’t biting now.

“I’ll email [brands] back and be like, ‘If you send me this, I will review it, and I will not lie,’” she said. “One of the things I first heard from people is, ‘Don’t sell your soul. Don’t sell anything that is against your beliefs.’ If I am being paid to push a piece of gear, you better believe that this is what I am saying.”

It may cost her deals, but it’s gained her trust. Facciola launched a brick-and-mortar store in November 2019 but closed it when running a business proved too restrictive. She still strings sticks — at her own pace.

Facciola is now in the middle of a move but plans to pick up stringing when she and her partner get settled. She hopes to have space to dye heads again, too.

“I think sometimes, ‘Why me? I knew nothing about lacrosse for a long time,’” she said. “I want to inspire kids to try lacrosse and not be afraid to make mistakes. And [be there for] that kid at 2 a.m. picks up their phones and sees one of my ranting videos and is like, ‘What’s lacrosse? Let me research that.’ That would be the highlight of my life — if one kid messaged me and said they found lacrosse because of me.”

CHANNEL SURFING

The creators’ game is heating up. Here are some lacrosse-specific or lacrosse-adjacent individual accounts on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube with content that’s cooking.

The Next Wave

Young bucks champing at the bit to take Mitchell Pehlke’s mantle.

Navarro Blakes — @onlyvarro
Combined Audience: 220K

Miles DuBois — @milesdoob
Combined Audience: 76K

Lax Farmer — @laxfarmer
Combined Audience: 46K

We Knew Them When

They’re bigger than lacrosse now — much bigger.

Drip King — @dripking
Combined Audience: 5.1M

Colin and Samir — @colinandsamir
Combined Audience: 2.1M

Jesse James West — @jessejameswest
Combined Audience: 10.9M

All Grown Up

Lacrosse content creators adulting hard these days.

Katie DeFeo — @ktdefeo
Combined Audience: 75K

Stelios Kroudis — @stelioskroudis
Combined Audience: 111K

Paul Rabil — @paulrabil
Combined Audience: 1.1M

Athlete Influencers

Current high-level players crushing the content game

Sofia Chepenik — @sofiachepenik
Combined Audience: 209K

Chloe Humphrey — @chloehumphreyy
Combined Audience: 51K

Charlotte North — @charlottenorth8
Combined Audience: 139K