Josalyn White, a standout junior on the Notre Dame lacrosse team, has committed to Rockhurst University to continue her athletic and academic career.
The midfielder has played lacrosse for a very long time. Since second grade, she has played for multiple teams.
“I previously played for Team Wisconsin before currently playing with Black Lax’s National and Premier teams. Also, I played with the Haudenosaunee Nationals U18 team and U16 team, where we played Team USA, Team Sekai Japan and Team Ontario in the Brogden Cup tournament,” she explained.
By choosing to join the Division Two Rockhurst Hawks, she will follow in her brother’s footsteps as he also played Division Two lacrosse.
“I grew up traveling and going to my brother’s lacrosse tournaments across the US, so traveling and road tripping is nothing new to me. Now, I travel and play on my own,” said White.
White is happy that she has been able to learn about new places and cultures as she travels to play lacrosse.
She continued, “I have been to places and different areas that I never really get to go to like California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and more. I have been able to see the differences between our Midwestern culture compared to Southern culture or East Coast culture. I have made lifelong friendships by playing lacrosse with people all over the country and even in Canada.”
This season, the NDA girls lacrosse team leads the Bay Valley conference with a record of 7-2. White is a very influential player for the team, usually tallying a hat trick or more each game.
On March 29, White led the Tritons to their first win of the season over a talented Oregon team by scoring 11 and assisting on 1 of the team’s 12 goals.
“For me, success is bigger than personal accomplishments. It’s contributing to a group of girls that I want to do well and uplift. I want to get everyone involved and celebrate the big plays. I am able to use my success and leadership to be a role model on the team. I can give advice to new players and underclassmen and create a positive environment at practice,” she said.
When in the recruiting process, White had to be selective because of her intended major in nursing. She described the possible struggle of balancing her sport and the highly time-consuming major.
“With clinicals, it is hard to schedule and manage your time, and you often have to miss practice. So, making sure that my major and playing lacrosse collegiately was possible was very important to me,” she said.
White said after speaking to other nursing students on the lacrosse team and having a good conversation with Coach McCourt, she headed to Rockhurst for a visit.
From there, she had so many good things to say about her future college and its city.
“When I got on campus, it was beautiful, and the girls were very welcoming. I knew I had found what was missing, and I could not stop thinking about the university afterwards. Just four days after my visit, I called and made my verbal commitment. Coach McCourt is an amazing coach and has high-level experience playing at Maryland. She has coached them to the best record in Rockhurst history at 13-3, and I am excited to follow along with their postseason tournament play and eventually get to play for Coach McCourt,” she noted.
White added, “I am looking forward to growing as a player and developing my skill set. I am excited to keep training, working hard to play at the next level, and follow my journey. Furthermore, I hope to build strong relationships with my teammates and make an impact on the field.”
