Women’s lacrosse attacker Jackie DeAngelis graduated from Keene State last spring with degrees in Business and Communications. However, this season she’s back for more, continuing on with women’s lacrosse for a fourth and final season. Due to interruptions from COVID-19, athletes of fall and winter sports are allowed an extra year of eligibility to compete after they graduate, according to NCAA rules.
DeAngelis returns to the women’s lacrosse roster this spring, this time as a captain, competing alongside her fellow “Gowls” — a term meaning “girl owls” the team has adopted to describe themselves, their outlook on the sport and overall team philosophy, DeAngelis said.
“Being a Gowl is being a good student athlete, being a good person, working hard, having fun, and stuff like that,” said DeAngelis, a New London, N.H. native. “And that’s how I would describe our team: we love to play the sport and we just love to have fun with it and at the end of the day, that’s our main goal.”
DeAngelis, like many student-athletes, started her athletic career early in her life. She grew up as a two-sport athlete playing lacrosse and basketball, but she began to gravitate more towards lacrosse and “ended up falling in love with lacrosse and had more fun with it,” she said.
Her lacrosse career was interrupted as a firstyear student at Keene State, after she decided to not compete for personal reasons. However, she said she felt herself missing the sport. “I had a great freshman year, but I wasn’t living the life I knew I could like having the best life I could at Keene. And I think a part of that was missing sports, because sports helped me be a better student, they just made me happier and more mentally better in general,” DeAngelis said.
So, she joined the program as a sophomore and never looked back — DeAngelis has been a reliable presence on the field ever since, being included in the starting lineup since her inaugural season. During the spring 2021 season, she scored 11 goals and added 16 assists, and is credited for 24 turnovers, according to the athletics department website.
“I’ve learned so much being here. I think that I’ve been pushed really hard by everybody on my team to just be the best player and work as hard as you can in practice,” she said.
This Saturday, KSC women’s lacrosse faces off against Eastern Connecticut State University, a friendly rivalry that DeAngelis said has been a highlight of her experience as an Owl. This is also the first time KSC will take on the Warriors on their home turf at the Owl Athletic Complex, DeAngelis said.
“It’s always great to have a home game and we’re excited to have them here. It’s definitely not going to be an easy game, it never is with them, but I think it’ll teach us a lot,” she said. Women’s lacrosse has an overall 1-7 record so far this season, set to begin conference play on Saturday, April 1 against Eastern Connecticut. However, DeAngelis said this is not indicative of the hard work the team puts in behind the scenes outside of competition.
“No matter what our record says, at the end of the day, we’re strong,” she said. “That’s what I’ve been taught here, is that as long as you’re having fun and working your hardest, you’re a great athlete, and that’s that.”
Caitlin Howard can be contacted at
choward@kscequinox.com
