2024 Top Stories: 'Hope' and 'Belief' at Holy Cross

To commemorate the year in lacrosse, USA Lacrosse Magazine is revisiting the stories that resonated most with our readers and staff.

From stories of triumph to those that could impact lacrosse for years to come, these 10 stood out above the rest in 2024.

Thank you for reading USA Lacrosse Magazine.

IN 2024, AMANDA BELICHICK GUIDED HOLY CROSS to its best season in recent history. At 12-6, the Crusaders finished above .500 for the first time since 2012. They played their penultimate game at home in the Patriot League quarterfinals, a 14-9 win over Colgate.

Perhaps it sounds unsurprising if you take one look at Belichick’s last name … or maybe a double take. (We’ll save you the Google search. Yes, that Bill is her father). However, a career in coaching wasn’t a given, nor was guiding a Holy Cross team that won back-to-back conference crowns in 2006 and 2007 and annually competed for titles.

“I’ve driven by Holy Cross a million times, but I’d never been here [until my interview],” said Belichick, who spent her fair share of time in New England as a child.

Belichick also spent time around her father’s colleagues, especially during his stint in Cleveland, where she lived from kindergarten to eighth grade. But when her coach at Wesleyan recommended coaching? “I was like, ‘No, I don’t want to do that,’” Belichick said.

Yet here she is. Despite her roots, Belichick’s path was non-traditional. Unlike some of her peers, like Army’s Michelle Tumolo, Belichick wasn’t a part of a Division I power-to-coaching pipeline. You won’t find her name on Navy coach Cindy Timchal’s crowded tree. Belichick starred at Wesleyan (Division III), serving as a senior captain in 2007. Mere months after telling her coach “no way” to the idea of picking up a whistle herself, Belichick had a change of heart when she saw an opening at Choate Rosemary Hall that summer.

“I had gone to boarding school, so I was excited to be in that environment,” Belichick said. “But there are other parts of the job there, and my full-time job was in their admission office — that was my actual job.”

But Belichick liked her afternoon job as varsity head coach of the girls’ soccer, hockey and lacrosse teams best. She looked forward to the opportunity to spend time on the ice or outside. At a Northwestern clinic, she connected with Alexis Venechanos, who was then the coach at UMass. When Venechanos needed an assistant ahead of the 2010 season, Belichick jumped to Division I, helping the Minutewomen win the Atlantic 10 title.

After stops at Ohio State and Wesleyan, where she served as the head coach from 2014-15, Belichick found herself at Holy Cross almost by chance.

Belichick had never been there herself, only seeing it from its hilltop perch as she drove down the highway. But she liked the idea that it was Division I, a top liberal arts school and seemed to have a strong community.

“It’s this true liberal arts education with a comprehensive, full Division I athletics program,” Belichick said. “That was something that always really aligned with who I am — playing or competing at the highest level athletically. I did not compete at the highest level personally. But being able to compete every day at this high level while also really being able to believe in and offer this incredible educational experience has been something that has just been such a great fit for me.”

Belichick had her work cut out for her. Holy Cross finished 4-14 in 2015, and the Crusaders weren’t an overnight success. It took nearly a decade of chipping away to make 2024 happen, starting with a 3-14 finish in her first season in 2016. Holy Cross won seven games twice in her first six full seasons (2017, 2023).

Without a graduate school, the Crusaders couldn’t hop on the one-hit-wonder bandwagon and snag a ringer of a fifth-year transfer from the portal.

But while NFL fans remember her father’s championship teams, Belichick remembers watching him go through the process of building and reflecting behind the scenes. And, in her own way, she leaned into a similar playbook.

“It was never like, ‘OK, this is it, and this is our end-all be-all,’” Belichick said. “It was just part of the journey. That was true even as my dad started to have a lot of success and was winning Super Bowls. In those offseasons, one of the things that really stood out to me, and I’ve tried to adopt in every way that I possibly can, is that it’s just about evaluating yourself and being a better version of yourself than you were in the previous years.”

In 2024, Holy Cross was the best version of itself in more than a decade, leaning into a belief, not hope, built over four years with a talented crop of seniors, including attacker Lauren Drillock (43G, 35A) and goalie Tori Cini (.438 SV%).

“Last year, the seniors did a good job leading with trust, love and looking out for their teammates,” Belichick said. “The team believed in a new way. In the past, there had been moments where it felt like we were hoping we were good enough. Last year, they believed that they were good enough, and they went into games with confidence that was just different.”

After a 1-2 start with losses to Bryant and Stanford, the Crusaders went on a run, piecing together an eight-game winning streak. It included a come-from-behind win over Lafayette, a game Holy Cross trailed 5-1 after the first quarter and 10-8 heading into the final frame.

“That was our turning point,” said Isabela Miller, who dished two fourth-quarter assists and ended the year with a program-record 50. “Lafayette’s a team we’ve also beaten, and we knew we were capable of beating them. Being down and then coming back really triggered us.”

Holy Cross rattled off three more wins against Stonehill, Bucknell and American before seeing its streak end in a 13-9 loss to Navy. The Mids later ended the Crusaders’ season in a Patriot League semifinal game with a much wider margin (19-5). But not before the Crusaders enjoyed a postseason home game against Colgate in the quarterfinals, a moment that stands out to Belichick.

“Hosting that game was a big deal for us,” she said. “We hadn’t been there in a while, right?”

Correct, Coach — not since 2014 (also against Colgate). The loss to Navy didn’t go as planned, but it didn’t damper the season during Belichick’s annual self-reflection practice.

Miller, too, was proud.

“Every year, we just want to improve,” Miller said. “We made it to the second round this year, so I think that was just overall improvement and gives us a lot of confidence going into this season that we’re going to improve again. We can get even further this time.”

While last year’s seniors may have instilled belief and leadership, Holy Cross doesn’t have many cleats to fill — statistically, at least. The Crusaders return all of their leading scorers except Drillock. Miller, Sally Zinser (55G, 23A), Ella Kittredge (38G, 10A, 50DC, 14CT) and Annabel Brennan (23G, 3A, 19DC) are back.

“One of the things that is important for us on offense especially is creating space for everyone to be good,” Belichick said. “It’s not about one person. To me, that’s something that stands out.”

It certainly won’t need to be one person this spring, and the Crusaders also welcome transfer Ava Moran, who had initially signed on to play with upstart South Florida. Belichick said she brings IQ and energy. Junior Racheli Levy-Smith brings a good chance that the Holy Cross will get a shot on the net. The second-team All-Patriot league selection is back after raising the program’s single-season draw control bar to 109 in 2024.

The departure of Cini leaves the biggest question mark in cage, though Belichick said her backup, junior Mackenzie Creagh (.429 SV% in seven appearances), is the likely answer.

Still, despite all the returners, much is left up in the air, and players can move up and down the depth chart as fall ball and the preseason roll on.

“I love that I don’t know what the lineup will be,” Belichick said. “The team gets better and better. They all grow and change in different ways — that’s exciting.”

Also exciting? The parity seen in women’s lacrosse in 2024, where upsets and rankings shake-ups became expected. While Holy Cross didn’t crack the USA Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20, it did serve as a rising star — and Belichick is embracing the chance to shake things up, perhaps on a larger scale, in 2025.

“2024 was fun to watch,” she said. “It was fun to be a part of. If we knew who was going to win, we would have a draft, see what it looked like on paper and that would be it. That’s what makes sports so fun.”

That mindset is probably part of Belichick’s DNA.