2019 LYCOMING COLLEGE LC MAGAZINE SPRING

Even though lacrosse didn’t come into their lives until Michelle’s friend convinced her to start playing on a rec team in fourth grade, the McGinniss family adapted to the sport quickly. Allison started soon after, and Kelly, four years younger than Michelle, picked up the stick as soon as she could to follow in her sisters’ footsteps. “Dad owns his own business,” Michelle said. “They came to every single game my senior year of college, and some of those games were a hike. Our grandma was our biggest fan. She knew all my teammates’ names. Our family was a huge part of our lacrosse involvement.” Kelly said that the games where Michelle and Allison faced each other while they were at Susquehanna and Lebanon Valley were always memorable. “It was really cool when they played each other,” she said. “We made shirts with Lebanon Valley on the front and Susquehanna on the back. That did influence me a lot and made me want to be like them.” While Michelle, who is now the marketing coordinator at Langan Engineering, was busy helping Susquehanna win a conference title and the NCAA Tournament, Kelly was in the midst of a high school career at Randolph High School where she scored more than 100 goals and caught the eye of former Lycoming coach Lindsay Reese. “I liked the small-school atmosphere and the camaraderie of everyone when I visited Lycoming,” said Kelly, a business administration major. “I still talk with my professors from freshman year and they still ask how I am doing and if I need help with the job search and things like that. That drew me here, especially after seeing my sisters’ experiences at similar schools. I love it here.” From her first game, when she scored three goals against Penn State-Abington, it was clear that Kelly was a game-changing player for Lycoming. She scored 66 goals as a freshman, added 68 more as a sophomore while earning all-region honors, and then added all-region accolades again as a junior while scoring 70 goals. Plus, she set the school record for career draw controls in her first game as a junior and finished second in the nation in the stat, averaging 10.0 per game. Kelly’s eye-popping numbers as a freshman made her a natural team leader, and as a sophomore, she was elected a team captain. It was a tie with her oldest sister, Allison, who was a four-year captain for Lebanon Valley. “I didn’t want to step on people’s toes because I was a sophomore,” Kelly said. “I talked to Allison about it because she was a freshman captain and there were people on the team who were seniors. She told me that I was elected to be there for a reason and that my teammates obviously respected me and wanted me in that role.” Allison, who works with Wiley Publishing in Hoboken, N.J., added, “I’m not that vocal, so I led a lot by example. I think Kelly is that way, too, and I said that’s okay. You can see her leadership on the field and how the team looks to her, which is really cool to watch.” Kelly, a business administration major and corporate communications minor, entered her senior year 29 goals and 35 points from school records and she is already one of only four players in school history to earn all-region honors twice in a career, leaving an indelible mark on Lycoming’s program. “She shines on the field,” Michelle said. “She has this drive that you can’t teach. She has a great game sense and plays with her heart. I see a lot of me in her. Her game is pretty and flowing.” Kelly may not yet be done following in her sisters’ footsteps, either. Both Michelle, who is a high school official and a club coach, and Allison, who is the junior high school coach at Randolph, have stayed involved in the game, which is something that Kelly said she also wants to do. “I either want to coach in college or if I get a job, I want to coach a club or high school team,” she said. I liked the small-school atmosphere and the camaraderie of everyone when I visited Lycoming. 27 www.lycoming.edu