The Atlantic Coast Conference is the pinnacle of women’s collegiate lacrosse. An ACC program has played for the national title in each of the last eight seasons and last year’s final Inside Lacrosse national rankings had five ACC teams among the top-10 at the end of the season.

So to get a chance to play in the nation’s top conference is an opportunity that would be to say no to. Loyola Academy junior Ellie Lazzaretto couldn’t pass it up, which is why on Jan. 22, the Lake Forest resident announced her commitment to play at Duke University starting in the fall of 2021.

“I’d been on a bunch of visits and to, obviously, some other fantastic schools, but there wasn’t like … It just didn’t have the it factor, like that factor where I just felt at home and I knew that I would be happy there and just that undeniable, “This is a place for me,’” she said. “Just the second I got on campus at Duke, there were no doubts in my mind.

“It’s surreal thinking that I’ll be playing against UNC, Boston College, Syracuse, all those schools that you look up to and it just seems so far-fetched. I think it’s definitely … It’s intimidating, but it’s so exciting. At the end of the day I’m so thrilled and it’s such an incredible opportunity and, it’s like the SEC of football, there’s nothing better.”

Growing up, Lazzaretto had been a multi-sport athlete but once she got to Loyola, that ended her freshman year. Right after Christmas during her freshman year basketball season, Lazzaretto was diagnosed with shin splints, meaning that she’d have to rest up and
not really play any sports during the time she was preparing to heal.

That, however, meant that she’d have to miss the start of lacrosse open gyms which start right after Christmas break.

“Once I was told that I was going to have to take two or three months off for my shins, it was like, ‘Oh shoot, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do this (make varsity her freshman year,’” she said. “I knew that if I had the opportunity to show my stuff, I could do it, but I got really psyched out when I realized it probably wasn’t going to be likely that I was going to be able to participate in the open gyms and maybe even not try out.

“But the good thing about what I had, I could be up on the turf and I could be doing wall ball and working on my stick skills. I think in order to get back into the swing of things, it was a lot of physically hard work, but also mentally because injuries just challenge you and I think a lot of people kind of crumble with injuries or you rise up.”

Lazzaretto got another chance to rise up last season as her role expanded with the Loyola varsity squad and she quickly became one of Ramblers’ top scorers on a high-powered offensive attack.

Even with returning attackers like Emily Doell, Brynn Holohan and Maggie Gorman, the then-sophomore looked to jump into an open spot that may have been available in the
Ramblers’ attack.

She found one: behind the net on the right side of the goal.

“I just worked really hard and, obviously, I wanted that spot, but it was never an expectation that that spot would just be given to me,” she said. “I think I really established that would be my spot in the first, I would say, couple of weeks of practice.

“The more I started producing in games, the more I started to believe in myself and then I think it just kind of grew exponentially from there.”

Lazzaretto also had the luxury of having her brother Luca go through the recruiting process right before she did. The elder Lazzaretto, a defender at Princeton University, took a little bit of a different path, having committed to Denver University his sophomore year before de-
committing and then committing to Princeton before his senior year.

That, however, helped his sister realize not to rush anything when it came to choosing the right college and to pull the trigger on when she knew the moment was right.

“I think just like even not on a lacrosse standpoint, he just played such a big role because he was always someone that I could call up and let him know how everything was going and he always just offered another voice and he gave me really good advice and was super supportive,” she said. “There’s a lot of people who advise you on certain things based on like their own personal motivations. He was just really good about having my best intention in mind and staying true to that.”

With her college decision made, Lazzaretto now looks to help a Loyola program do something it hasn’t done in the two years since lacrosse has become an IHSA sport: win a state title.

With teammates like Sophia Rucker, Kelsey Koch, Annabelle Burke, Audrey Brett, Maley Starr and more, returning, the squad looks to have yet another successful season.

Lazzaretto knows that the pressure of choosing a college might be off, but now playing as an ACC commit will bring another new set of challenges.

“It’s exciting because I have these two years to grow and develop and hopefully get us back with the trophy,” she said. “But it’s a little intimidating just because it’s two years to grow and develop, but it’s also two years until I’m playing in the ACC and I’m super excited, but a little scared, but it’s good pressure. I like pressure and I think I do well under pressure, so I think it’ll be good.”

Story was published in 22nd Century Media newspapers in summer of 2019