FSU has always had a men’s and women’s lacrosse club team, each taking their wins and losses respectively. Now, they’ve added a new National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) team for women’s lacrosse, paired with the new lacrosse facility.
In 2022, the women’s club lacrosse team received its first invitation to the Women’s College Lacrosse Associates (WCLA) National Tournament, a first-ever in program history. In 2023, they returned, placing ninth in the National Tournament.
With these statistics from the club team alone, fans and players alike are optimistic about the potential of the new Division 1 (D1) team and how they’ll perform. New coaches are leading the way, each bringing in experience from other programs, and the fall ball has been well underway for a few weeks.
Transfers from all over have come to FSU to initiate this new team, bringing all they have to a fresh varsity sport. Despite its newness, the incredible stamina and strength of the women’s club lacrosse team have given viewers high hopes for how well the varsity team will succeed.
Coaches
The head coach, Sarah Tisdale, was named FSU’s inaugural women’s head coach on July 29, 2024. She’s coached at other schools and was the first lacrosse coach at Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, and Augustana. She’s 114-86 in her 12-year career, and has four regular-season conference championships and three conference tournament titles.
Tisdale has also coached 34 all-conference selections, three Offensive Players of the Year, one Defensive Player of the Year, and three Freshmen of the Year honorees. She’s also been honored nine consecutive times with the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Association Honor Squad recognition and produced 118 individual academic all-conference selections.
Mackenzie Plaskey is the Associate Head Coach, announced on Aug. 30, 2024. She spent the last six seasons as the head coach at Grand Valley State, sweeping four consecutive Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships. Before this, Plaskey actually worked alongside Tisdale at Central Michigan, and in their final season together, they won the program’s first conference championship.
Rachel Clark is one of two assistant coaches, joining the team on July 25. Before this, she played lacrosse at Boston College and Virginia, was a member of Team USA, was named First-Team All-ACC four times, and was the 2025 ACC Attacker of the Year. In Clark’s senior year at Boston College, she recorded 106 goals and accounted for 128 points. She finished her career with 311 goals and 380 points.
McKenzie Gaghan is the other assistant coach, and she’ll work primarily with the goalkeepers. She spent her final two collegiate seasons at Florida Southern and played in every game with a 15-5 record.
Players and positions
The team is full of young talent, with many players launching FSU’s newest varsity sport. There are 33 total athletes, with five mid-year transfers, 14 other transfers, and 14 high school recruits.
The roster includes 14 attackers, 12 defenders, three goalies, and six midfielders, or “midis.” Each of these positions offers its own challenges and requires a unique skill set to master. In women’s lacrosse, an attacker is someone who wants to score more easily, so they spend the whole game “attacking” the ball.
They stay on one half of the field, guarded by the opposing team’s defense and goalie. The defensive players have to prevent the ball from going near the goal, using tactics such as a stick check, where a defensive player hits an attacker’s stick with their own, or an interception.
The goalie and midis have relatively different jobs. The goalie’s job is to protect the net, using the larger stick they’re given to do so. A midi is a player who plays both attack and defense, constantly sprinting from one end of the field to the next. They’re the only players allowed to freely move across the center line.
Fall ball and Lacrosse league
The women’s lacrosse team began its fall ball on Sept. 21, kicking off against Kennesaw State and Charlotte. They then played five other teams, all away, because the new facility isn’t quite done yet. On Sept. 27, they played Saint Leo; on Oct. 11, they played the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida; and on Oct. 25, they played the University of Florida. These fall ball games are played for practice only, with no statistics or records being documented. They’re used to help each team improve and play at their best when their spring season begins.
The lacrosse team will play in the D1 NCAA league, which includes 129 programs and spans 16 conferences. They’re competing in one of the premier conferences within the Atlantic Coast Conference, which has produced 17 national champions and has won the title game 13 out of 14 times.
FSU will play top schools like Boston College (BC), Duke University, the University of North Carolina (UNC), and Stanford University. Last season, UNC went undefeated, going 9-0 in the conference. BC had a record of 8-1, while Stanford had a record of 7-2. Duke finished strong, going 6-3 in the conference for the season. Each of these schools offers a challenge for the new team, and they’re not afraid to face it.
New facility
The addition of a new women’s lacrosse team isn’t the only lacrosse-themed inclusion heading to FSU. They’re also building a brand-new lacrosse facility right next door to FSU’s current golf facility. It’s a $12 million complex that has a clubhouse, over a thousand seats, and a turf field. It’s one of the only women’s lacrosse facilities in the nation, right next to Clemson.
The women’s lacrosse team’s Instagram recently posted a digital walk-through of the facility, where you can see every new feature they’re planning to include. The outside of it mirrors the soccer complex, with a grassy field you can sit on next to the stands. There will also be a wall-ball building for practice, a press box fit for media members to report on FSU’s new NCAA D1 team, and a lounge inside the clubhouse. All of this will line the turf field, where the team will play.
FSU’s new lacrosse team brings a whole new environment to their athletics, a sport that’s only ever been seen on the intramural and club fields. This team is full of talent, experienced coaches, and skilled players. This team’s season will be a very entertaining one!
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