For most high school seniors, spring is a time of relaxation. After college decisions have been made, students spend the remaining months wrapping up the various activities that they have been involved in, typically for at least the last four years.
Not Linda McEvoy. Her main sport was basketball, and she was recruited to play hoops at Hamilton College. For fun, she played defense in lacrosse from seventh to 11th grade. Heading into the final season of her high school career, McEvoy seemed to have it all figured out like her classmates. Then, in the spring of her senior year, McEvoy stepped onto the lacrosse field as the starting goalie for the first time. Suddenly, the senior’s world was rocked, and McEvoy spent her final months of high school excelling at the position.
With McEvoy manning the goal, her high school team in Rochester, N.Y. reached the finals of the state tournament for the first time ever—no small feat considering New York is a rather large state. Perhaps more impressively, in her first and only season as a high school lacrosse goalie, McEvoy was named first team all-county and first team all-state. She was hooked.
“I was never going to be really good at basketball,” McEvoy said. “I could go to a Div. III school, and maybe eventually I would start. With lacrosse I found something that naturally works for me.”
McEvoy questioned her decision to play basketball at Hamilton, and looked for an opportunity to continue playing her new favorite sport. “I loved it and wanted to play so much,” said McEvoy. “But there was no way I could have been recruited as a lacrosse goalie.”
So that summer, McEvoy tried to make a case for herself at two schools where she was on the wait list: Bowdoin College and Amherst. “She sent me some game films,” said Amherst Head Coach Chris Paradis. “I could tell she had a lot of potential. I’d like to think I had something to do with getting her off the wait list, but I think she was a pretty strong candidate all by herself.”
McEvoy was babysitting when she heard the good news from Amherst. “A woman from admissions called me and said, ‘You are literally the last person we are accepting from the wait list. Let us know in four hours,’” said McEvoy. “I called her back in 20 minutes.”
She then transitioned to Amherst, though she still occasionally gets mail from Hamilton. Since her arrival, McEvoy has been very involved on campus as a member of the Bluesox, an RC and, of course, as an integral part of the women’s lacrosse team. “What I love about the lacrosse team is that we are in some ways a diverse group with diverse interests and we have found a way to be a support group for each other,” explained McEvoy. “But it is not my only outlet. In that way lacrosse has been really healthy, and I don’t balance all of my self-worth on the lacrosse team.”
Yet anyone who has watched the women’s lacrosse team will be hard-pressed to find someone more passionate about the group. “She never gives up, and always gives 110 percent in everything she does,” said teammate Kathleen Scheld ’10. “She has been the heart and soul of this team.”
In addition, McEvoy is one of Amherst’s strongest contributors on the field. She is in her third season as Amherst’s starting goalie, and has been either first or second in the conference in goals against average each year. Currently, McEvoy leads the NESCAC in goals against average and save percentage. “She has really come into her own this season more than any other, and it is only her fifth year playing,” said Paradis. “She makes some saves that goalies just shouldn’t be able to save.”
“She could help out a lot of teams at the Div. I level,” added Assistant Coach Carol Knerr.
Despite all of her success, McEvoy is quick to profess that her statistics are directly related to the defense, and are therefore team statistics. Her team-first mentality doesn’t stop there. “I adore being on a team,” said McEvoy. “I love the team concept: being a part of something larger than yourself, working toward a collective goal. I’m all about that.”
McEvoy maintains this attitude even while playing the most individual position on the field. “No one in their right mind stands in a goal while people chuck things at them,” she said of being a goalie. “For me, it is the best position where I can contribute to the team. I don’t get bruises for shits and giggles. I’m not a masochist. I just love being a part of a team.”
With this approach, McEvoy has emerged as a true leader on the women’s lacrosse team. “Linda has the unique ability to rally people and make them better from a position that is not easy to do it from,” said Paradis.
“Linda is always the one in the huddle pushing us to try harder and telling us not to give up,” said Scheld. “She makes us believe in ourselves and our abilities, and that’s what makes us not only a good team, but a winning team. She leads not only in what she says, but also what she does. Linda is an example to all of what a leader, a teammate and a friend looks like.”
Her never-give-up attitude seems to have rubbed off on her teammates. “I call our team a bunch of ‘gamers,’” McEvoy said. “We are all playing for the same thing. I know everyone is going to play with intensity, focus and desire so we can walk off the field proud of the way we played. That’s so exciting.”