Northwestern’s national championship loss marks the end of an era

On Sunday, after losing 14-13 to Boston College in the 2024 NCAA Championship game, graduate students Izzy Scane and Erin Coykendall walked into the WakeMed Soccer Park media room teary-eyed and emotional. Their college careers had just ended in a loss, and they would never be putting on a Northwestern uniform again. And yet, Scane was smiling.

“I’ve just had some of the best experiences of my entire life, and it sucks because it seems like one game changes that,” Scane said when asked why she was still smiling in a seemingly devastating moment. “Like, we’ve lost, that sucks, but it’s been a really, really incredible ride...I’m grateful for the time I’ve had here.”

“So I’m smiling because it’s been awesome. I love all the people I’ve met through the sport, through Northwestern, through everything. So it’s hard not to smile.”

Scane’s response captures the overarching theme of this national championship game — that one bad loss is not all there is to the story.

We could talk about the 6-0 first-quarter lead that got completely blown away, or that Boston College outscored Northwestern 14-7 in the game's final three quarters. We could talk about all the times Northwestern failed to capitalize when the game got close, or all the times Boston College came in clutch. We could talk about the game’s final possession, where the Wildcats couldn’t quite find the back of the net. We could talk about the bittersweet feeling of NU being the subject of the Eagles’ “revenge story,” where they came back from being blown out by the ‘Cats 18-6 in last year’s title game to beating them a year later.

But dwelling on those things wouldn’t accomplish anything. Yes, it doesn’t feel great when Northwestern was favored to win the title all season but then lost in the most dramatic fashion, especially when it had been leading for most of the game. But the most devastating loss of Sunday was not the championship game itself, but the numerous graduating seniors and graduate students like Scane and Coykendall who will never play college lacrosse again.

After Sunday, eight of Northwestern’s 12 starters—Scane, Coykendall, Dylan Amonte, Lindsey Frank, Carleigh Mahoney, Jane Hansen, Kendall Halpern, and Molly Laliberty—will be out of NCAA eligibility. In addition, players like Alia Marshall, Hannah Gillespie, Mary Schumar, Katie Shanley, Natalie Lopez, and Leah Holmes will have used up all their years. These players have been a core part of Northwestern’s identity for the last four years, and although their careers ended with a loss, they will be remembered for so much more.

“At the end of the day, win or lose, this is that last day that you can have with your team,” Coykendall said. “Every practice, every game we go into, we’re like ‘let’s just work for another opportunity to have another game together. Obviously, losing sucks...but I think just being able to know that you’ve really maximized your time here — you can’t really ask for more.”

Without these seniors, Northwestern would not have won its first national championship in 11 seasons, claimed three Big Ten regular season and tournament titles from 2021 to 2024, and qualified for four Final Fours. And of course, generational players like Scane and Coykendall were major contributors.

Scane’s accolades have already been recited time and time again. She’ll leave Northwestern as the NCAA Division I All-Time leading scorer, a Tewaaraton winner (with a second award potentially on tap this week), and she will be remembered as one of the greatest ever both at NU and in the sport of women’s lacrosse. Coykendall was a Tewaaraton finalist too, but more notably, she was Northwestern’s primary facilitator and a player with sky-high lacrosse IQ who had one of the craftiest shots in the game. As a dynamic duo on the field and best friends off it, Scane and Coykendall will forever be one of lacrosse’s greatest one-two punches.

“It’s very rare to have stars that get along in any sport,” Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “[Scane and Coykendall] arere not about themselves. They’re about making each other look good. That’s really been the culture of our program.”

But it’s not just Scane and Coykendall. Amonte was an unsung hero on the offense, often creating opportunities for her teammates that didn’t show up as a goal or assist on her stat sheet. Halpern, Mahoney, Hansen, and Gillespie were all defensive stalwarts. Laliberty has one of the best stories in lacrosse, going from a Division III goalie at Tufts to starting on a Division I national championship team. Schumar earned critical points off the bench as a graduate transfer, while Frank and Marshall pulled off the incredible feat of going to the national championship game as both field hockey and lacrosse players. Shanley, Lopez, Holmes, and seniors Hannah Johnson and Claire Snyder (who both didn’t play in 2023) did not get much recent playing time, but their contributions representing Northwestern lacrosse both on and off the field won’t ever be erased.

Although underclassmen like sophomore Madison Taylor, juniors Samantha White and Samantha Smith, and freshman Madison Smith will continue to take Northwestern to great heights, there is no denying that next year’s team will not be the same. This group of Northwestern seniors has gone through four years (and for some, five or six) years of glorifying victories and heartbreaking losses, but they will always be known as the group that took the Wildcats back to the top of the mountain. And for the players, it’s all about the journey — not the destination.

“You really can’t put it into words,” Coykendall said of her time at Northwestern ending. “That’s why it’s so hard because we care so much and our experience has been nothing short of amazing.”

“You look back at the five years and the relationships that you’ve built, you can’t ask for anything more. That’s why you come to Northwestern.”

In a few months, Northwestern will turn the page to begin a new season with an entirely different team. But for now, it’s okay to both celebrate and mourn the end of an era.