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Women's Lacrosse Gears up For Inaugural 2025 Campaign

By Mark Albanese, Director of Sports Communication

689 days ago, the Pacific Lutheran University Athletic Department announced women’s lacrosse would be elevated to a varsity sport, becoming the University’s first new varsity program since adding women’s golf in 1996.

625 days ago, the University hired Washington native Melanie Rizzotti as the program’s first head coach.

And now, the Lutes stand just three days away from playing their inaugural varsity game, hosting Eastern Oregon University at East Field on Sunday in the first of 15 games this spring with 10 of those being played at home.

A lot of groundwork has been laid over those 689 days, as the Lutes transitioned from being a club program to a varsity sport. Much of that heavy lifting has been done by Rizzotti who was named the head coach back in May of 2023 after spending two seasons in West Virginia at Division II University of Charleston, including the final season as the Golden Eagles’ head coach.

Since then, Rizzotti has constructed a roster that includes players from five different states across three different time zones, assembled a schedule, ordered equipment and gear, along with hiring an assistant coach in Baltimore native Will Kelly.

Heading into the inaugural season, Rizzotti is ready for this team to make their mark and set the foundation for what PLU women’s lacrosse is all about.

The expectations this year are to set a foundation for what we want to be known for in terms of our style of play, the pace of our play, and just getting better with each game as we continue to build,

Head Coach Melanie Rizzotti

Of PLU’s 16 players on the inaugural roster, 10 of those are familiar faces that played on the club team last spring.

2025 Roster

It's really cool to see all the growth the players have had individually and collectively as a team over the last year and a half. Seeing where they were when I came in, and seeing the things they're doing now, and seeing their confidence improve and being creative and just playing the game differently, is just really cool to see. I'm just excited to see all their hard work pay off. We’ve been preparing for this moment for a year and a half and it's finally time.

Among the six newcomers is starting goalkeeper Kassie Diller. A Michigan native, Diller played last season as a field player at Spalding University in Lexington, Kentucky. The sophomore appeared in all 15 games for the Eagles as a first-year, starting in 14 of them. Her stat line included collecting seven ground balls with five caused turnovers, and one assist.

In addition to Diller, the team is expecting big things from midfielder Taylee Alldredge, a first year from nearby Maple Valley, Washington along with attacker Kathleen Swankowski who hails from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

A relative newcomer to the sport, midfielder Katrina Moran is making an impact for the Lutes. The Portland, Oregon native joined the club team last year and has quickly proven to be a natural at the sport.

“Katrina is someone who joined last year and for only playing a year, she's a very stealthy player and she’s going to be a huge influence on our team this year.”

A senior and a veteran of the PLU club team, Annie Latimer has proven to be one of the leaders on the young team.

“Annie is one of our captains and she’s a great player but she’s also a huge culture person as well and is very vocal in terms of setting the tone, leading by example, and making sure everyone’s showing up and doing the right thing.”

Rizzotti has a great appreciation for the club players and the foundation they’ve already built.

The coolest thing about club players is that clubs are all student driven. Wanting to pick up a lacrosse stick and wanting to play on a team is a completely self-motivated thing. For them to have that team and be committed to building that on their own, I think it's really cool that it didn't come from anybody else, they were the driving forces behind it.

Heading into the program’s first season, Rizzotti has stressed the value of having a strong culture, something that has helped unite and bond the team.

“It's really important to me to have a strong culture, and that players are upholding it to the highest standard at all times. We want to play in a very connected way. We want to be having fun, and we want to be supportive of one another. So my hope is that they continue to leave this program better than they found it and take a lot of pride in building everything we’re doing.”

For those unfamiliar with one of the nation’s fastest growing sports, Rizzotti offers plenty of reasons to come out to the turf and watch the squad this spring.

“It’s so fun to watch. It’s fast paced. It's physical. It's high scoring. There’s a ton of rules but you don’t need to know it all to understand and appreciate the athleticism of the sport and the skill that’s required to catch and pass a small ball with a stick.”

Sunday’s game— officially 692 days after PLU announced women’s lacrosse as the University’s 18th varsity sport— is just the starting point for a program that has big aspirations to be one of the top programs in the Northwest Conference.

My hope is PLU becomes a lacrosse school and one of those factors is having a home field advantage. I'm really hoping that our community comes out and continues to create an atmosphere supporting lacrosse.

Opening draw on Sunday against Eastern Oregon is set for 12 p.m. at East Field.

I think it will be great to see everything we’ve worked on pay off, and also see what we need to work on as we go into our conference games. Knowing we can still get better and continue to grow.

2025 Season Schedule