Community cat earns honorary ‘degree’ from Castleton

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Back in 2022, the UVM women’s club lacrosse team made it all the way to the WCLA D2 National Championship game before falling to Loyola Maryland. Last year, the Cats finished third in the country. But this year, Vermont finally got over the hump.
“It was awesome,” said senior attacker May Cassidy. “I mean our first time that we went, we were all sophomores. And we went in #14 seed, like not really expecting to do well. So finishing secnd was awesome for us. And then we were just super excited to come back.”
“Sophomore, junior year, we were like so close to getting the title,” added senior midfielder Annika More. “I think like it being our senior year, we just really wanted to get out there and win.”
The cats earned an at-large bid to the national tournament as the #4 seed, and they had no trouble dispatching rival UNH and Denver in group play to advance to the national semifinals.
“Obviously we played UNH early on, which again we played a lot this season,” said national midfielder of the year Ella Malik. “And it was exciting to play a few other teams we hadn’t played before.”
“Just like having so many teams from all across the country, it’s really cool to see everybody come together,” added senior defender Hayley Zielinski. “Gives you like an insight into how like the different coasts play lacrosse.”
The Cats downed top seed Cal State San Marcos in the semifinals, earning a fourth meeting of the season with Providence in the national title game.
“One of my favorite things about this team is no matter who we play, we just come out ready to play,” said senior midfielder Lilly Egenberg. “And again, we know Providence, they know us, we know them and I think we just were ready to play and we came out harder and I think we wanted it more.”
The Cats fell behind early, but eventually seized control, coasting to a 14-8 win and the program’s first ever national title. It’s especially sweet considering all the challenges this group has had to overcome in their lacrosse careers.
“I think it was really special for all of us,” said senior midfielder Paisley Broadhurst. “Especially being seniors, like in high school, none of us got a senior season. We’ve all just become like super close. And our grade is the smallest on the team so it’s like easy for us all to just like hang out. And to be able to accomplish this all together, I think it’s gonna be a core memory for all of us for sure.”
Head coach Rhiannon Brown is excited for the future of the program, but she also knows this senior class is irreplaceable.
“I’ve played lacrosse for about 10 years before I came to UVM, and I don’t think that I ever had the pleasure of having a senior class like this,” Brown said. “Whether it be my senior classes or ones that I’ve had on my teams. So this group in particular is one that’s going to be near next to impossible to replace. We do have a really strong core on our team that I’m really excited for them to step up and play…but this class in particular is gonna leave a forever mark on our program.”