After finishing a historic 2024 season with the best conference record in the team’s history, Davidson women’s lacrosse continues to excel in 2025, standing at 8-3 with five regular season games remaining. In conference, the team is tied for third with a 4-1 record. After falling to the University of Richmond in the semi-final round of the 2024 A-10 tournament, Davidson hopes for a conference championship this season.
“We are a completely different team from last year after having lost seven starters, including five who started for most of their time at Davidson,” Head Coach Kim Wayne said. Nevertheless, Davidson returned with four of its five top point scorers from last season: Josie Lambert ‘25, Riley Cochrane ‘25, Allie Hartnett ‘26 and Jenna Skibbe ‘27. Attackers Lambert and Skibbe, in particular, are on track for another groundbreaking season. Both have been named A-10 Player of the Week and scored a combined 74 goals. 36 of those goals have come from Lambert, who scored her 100th career goal early in the season against Winthrop University and tied the program record for single-game goals (eight) against Rhode Island on Mar. 22.
On the other side of the ball, the defensive unit only had three returning players. “It was a major adjustment starting out with such a young defensive unit, but we have done a stellar job at adjusting and buying into our roles,” goalie Kayla Joyce ‘27 stated. Davidson’s great defensive efficiency was made apparent in their win over Niagara University on Mar. 16. Only allowing three goals in 27 possessions, the defense earned the highest efficiency percentage across Division I lacrosse that week. Joyce has anchored defensive efficiency in the goal with a 52% save percentage, putting her at ninth in the nation.
Despite Davidson’s success, this season has not been without roadblocks: the team’s three losses have been physically and mentally challenging. “A major setback was our game against Jacksonville [University]. We struggled in a lot of different parts of the field and had a difficult time fighting back the goal deficit set pretty early into the game. […] It was definitely a turning point for our team as a whole to find our own weaknesses and work on them,” Joyce said. Two weeks after their loss in Jacksonville, the team had a conference loss to Saint Joseph’s University in double overtime. “[That loss] was tough on the team. However, we’ve used that game as motivation to improve and focus on specific adjustments that will make us better moving forward,” Lambert said.
As adjustments are put into action, the team is looking forward to further success this spring. “This season we want to push ourselves to work harder than ever and improve from our previous third seed in the A-10, with the ultimate goal of an A-10 championship,” Skibbe said.
Lambert also expressed a desire to improve in smaller ways. “Day to day, we focus on pushing each other in practice and taking the season one game at a time,” she said.
With conference play in full swing, each game has a greater impact on postseason seeding. “We have improved from the beginning of the season to now and are continuing to find our groove. Moving into conference play is no different. We want to make history and compete with the top teams in the league by getting better each week,” Skibbe emphasized.
Wayne has been especially impressed by her team’s care for one another. “It’s not about stats or who is scoring each goal or causing turnovers. It’s about the team as a whole and what our overall team goals are. […] Talent helps, but their work ethic is what pushes them forward.”
