With WLL, Palms' McCool Living a Lacrosse Dream She Didn't Know Existed

There will be some nostalgia for Marie McCool when taking the field for the California Palms at Subaru Park for the WLL Championship Game. It’s the field where, 10 years ago, she led North Carolina to an NCAA Championship. Now it’s a marker of how far she — and the sport — have really come. In 2016 in the middle of her storied UNC playing career, there was not yet pro lacrosse (the short-lived UWLX has been announced and started the next year). She couldn’t then predict she’d be on three gold medal USA teams. Or that she’d spend her summers on the sidelines recruiting. Or that she’d be playing in a pro lacrosse championship on ESPN. Or that she’d even be a part of the sport at all, really. “I didn't know what like what lacrosse I would have after college. So when you're in that moment and you win, like that's the pinnacle, right? Like it's winning a national championship for your college team because there really was no other option besides Team USA, and that point I wasn't yet on Team USA,” says McCool. “I didn't know if I was going to need to find a desk job and give up lacrosse. And so just to see to reflect back on how far the sport has come in the past 10 years — I do think there's going to be an incredible crowd on Saturday in the stands. So reflecting back the past 10 years is something really special.” A sliding-doors moment for McCool came five years ago. She was about to move to New York City with a career in healthcare, and her playing career was starting to fizzle out. Then Jenny Levy called with an opportunity to join the Heels’ staff. That job filled a lacrosse void, but she's taken it and run with it to become one of the sport’s top assistants in a run of success for the Heels that has included two NCAA Championships and three title game appearances. "I felt like there was just a part of me that was missing when I was in that job. And with lacrosse being part time, it just it it didn't feel right," she says. That created a pursuit of lacrosse full-time, playing on the 2022 and 2026 U.S. National Teams and trading summers at the desk for summers in folding chairs on sidelines. “Carolina has given me an opportunity to be around the sport so much, whether it's coaching or watching film, I feel like it's just really helped elevate my game in a different way that maybe I didn't have in the past. I was always lucky to be a midfielder and have the athletic abilities that I had, but I feel like I relied on that in my younger parts of my career. And so being in Carolina has really helped me just learn different aspects of the game and help grow my game in ways that I don't think I would have been able to if I didn't come back here. That was the turning point in my career, which has allowed me to be standing where I am today, competing for a World championship, and then the following weeks competing for a professional championship,” she says. She’s hitting a peak of her playing career that few can sustain at this level this long. Her athleticism in the middle of the field has been there since Day 1, and it still is. An athlete who played initially in the pre-shot clock era in college is one who most pushes the envelope with WLL’s fast-paced rules. Her ability on the draw, in leading a midfield of All-Americans and superstars for the Palms, and her productivity are matched only by her veteran presence and leadership. The years at UNC, and experience in every post-collegiate opportunity, have built her into an all-around star who’s having a Golden Summer, including her second-straight All-World selection. “Being a coach has helped me with that. Being around the game every single day and those players and understanding how to manage like those relationships and people and communicate effectively. That's just something that's grown for me over the years being a coach. It translates being a teammate and a player as well. I've learned a lot from being at Carolina and being able to learn under Jenny, who's obviously one of the best you know coaches in the history of Division I women's lacrosse, so I'm super grateful for that. And playing a lot of there's a lot of leaders on the field in the professional league and in the world championship. Every single person on that field was probably a captain at some point when they were in college. I'm lucky to be surrounded by so many great leaders, and so it's really just a matter of understanding like what the team needs for me, and how can I help,” says McCool. The Palms — like their opponent in the Maryland Charm — needed their leadership to get to the championship. Their deep midfield is suffocating on the field, but their personality has taken on the sunny image of their Palms moniker. A Barbie gets passed to each game MVP. It’s all very California vibes, something hard to build with limited practice time, and in the case of this summer with the World Lacrosse Championship, multiple time zones separating talent. “Obviously, the end goal is always winning, but for us, just being so close and having fun and just playing the game with a lot of joy is something that I know we take a lot of pride in, and it's obviously something that is clear to the fans and to the spectators,” McCool says. For players like McCool, it’s the fun that she couldn’t have predicted. The players she coaches now, when lifting trophies or looking up into the stands on gameday, will look to a future in which playing lacrosse can be central to their lives. Players in the stands outside Philly can dream of the same future. “We have a long way to go though, and I think the WLL has done an incredible job giving us the platform to continue to inspire those next generations, whether it's through social media and or if it's the televised games that provides that visibility for fans and for younger girls who aspire to be in our shoes one day,” she says. “We just have to continue to push.”