Pitt ready to start from ground up
The entryway to the section of Fitzgerald Field House containing Pitt’s women’s lacrosse offices is under construction, with disassembled cubicles and other detritus strewn about. The remodeling effort coincides well with the program it houses, though perhaps starting from scratch would be more apropos, because that is what Emily Boissonneault and Daniela Eppler are doing.
Walk through the entryway to the end of the hall, and Boissonneault and Eppler are in the midst of a scouting session. Pitt doesn’t begin playing games until 2022, but Boissonneault, the head coach, and Eppler, her assistant, are compiling dossiers on ACC opponents now.
“We’re keeping ourselves pretty busy,” Boissonneault said. “We’re trying to do as many camps and clinics as we can. This is probably the one thing I talk to most people about is that the brand of Pitt lacrosse has to get out there. There still are people in the country that don’t know that Pitt has a lacrosse team now.”
Pitt added women’s lacrosse as a varsity sport in November 2018 and hired Boissonneault last summer. To prepare for competition in the ACC, director of athletics Heather Lyke wanted to give the staff plenty of lead time. She chose Boissonneault, 29, who in turn hired Eppler, 27, to lead the program from its birth.
“It is definitely the premier lacrosse conference in the country,” Lyke said. “That’s one of the reasons we decided to phase in this program. … You’re going into the gauntlet of competition, shall I say, which is great, because you’re going to recruit kids that want to compete against the best. And that’s exciting.”
Boissonneault only had a month after her hiring before the prime recruiting season of summer tournaments ended, so she started right away. Pittsburgh isn’t far from the east coast, lacrosse’s true hotbed, but the local scene lags behind.
“The Philly area is a huge recruiting area, and right now, Western Pennsylvania just isn’t up to that standard yet,” Boissonneault said. “And there’s a reason. Philly has so many different colleges where people are coming to play and then they’re staying there. Whereas Pittsburgh, there’s not as much lacrosse, people aren’t coming here to go to school and then staying here.
“The growth of the sport is delayed because we don’t have people that are coming and staying and helping to develop and get it to the next level. We’re excited to be here because I think that’s going to help bring in more athletes, obviously to our program, but also hopefully keep athletes here in the city to maybe help us continue to build that brand.”
On the table in front of Boissonneault and Eppler were three copies of Pitt’s recruiting book, with information about the program, the school and the city. Bolstered by Boissonneault and Eppler’s charisma, the team has six recruits; the program is fully funded, meaning 12 scholarships that can be divided among players.
Boissonneault hopes eventually to build a roster of around 32 players. One of those first six is midfielder Emily Coughlin, a Plum native who attends Oakland Catholic.
“They just said it’s going to be a lot of hard work and it’s going to take some time, but if we work together, it could be really fun, enjoyable, and we could be good,” Coughlin said.
The class also includes Abby Thorne, a midfielder from Australia. Helping the game grow internationally is important to Boissonneault, a Canadian who plays and coaches for the national team, and Eppler, who is of Mexican descent and also plays and coaches internationally.
Though years will pass before the Panthers play a game, Boissonneault and Eppler will be busy. They’re holding satellite camps to spread the word (“When the first lacrosse camp sold out on Day 2, we were like, oh my goodness,” Lyke said.) Most weekends in the summer, they’ll travel to tournaments to scout and recruit. They still need to pick an equipment sponsor, so they’re testing out sticks.
On Wednesdays, they hold skill development sessions in the Cost Center. With Billie Eilish playing quietly over the sound system, Boissonneault and Eppler led Coughlin and five other players through drills. As they concluded a recent session, the girls ended with a chant of “H2P,” foreshadowing the new team’s postgame rallying cry two years down the road.