Delaney Sweitzer's Journey Through 3 Time Zones in 6 Years

Delaney and Savannah Sweitzer are fraternal twins, born a minute apart. Savannah came first — something she likes to hang onto. But it was their brother, CJ, who first sparked the sisters’ interest in lacrosse (and went on to play for Bryant).

“He was a year older than us and started playing boys’ lacrosse for our township team,” Savannah said. “At the time, there was no girls’ program. Delaney and I liked to do whatever he did. We ended up following his footsteps a little bit there, and we started playing boys’ lacrosse.”

But Delaney has charted her own path, one that’s been part identical to her sister’s but all hers. It’s taken Delaney through three time zones to play for three different teams in six years. Savannah, a former midfielder and now an assistant coach at Penn, came along for two, most recently Syracuse.

Delaney will return to The Hill on Tuesday in a Northwestern uniform. She’ll assume her stance between the pipes, just as she did for three years for the Orange, two of which she spent as the starter. During her tenure, Delaney helped Syracuse to a pair of final four appearances and earned first-team All-America honors in 2023. If it had ended with Syracuse’s national semifinal loss to Boston College in 2024, it would have, perhaps, still been a career that warranted childhood dream-come-true status, especially because she got to do it with her sister.

“I’ve always dreamt big with my twin,” Delaney said. “We’ve always pushed each other from a young age. We dreamed of playing at the highest level, on the biggest stage. If you told me,

‘It’s going to be at three different universities,’ I’d tell you that I think you’re crazy. But looking back, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

Her unconventional path to standout status began in third grade when it was her turn to play a position no one wanted to play: Goalie. It was there that the pseudo-identical, technically fraternal twins’ paths first diverged (and, once again, Savannah went first).

“Everyone was scared, but everyone had to try goalie for the game,” Savannah said. “I ended up being scared of the ball when it was my turn, but she stuck with it. From third grade on, she started playing goalie.”

The position suited Delaney. Savannah kept her position in the field, staving off any sibling rivalry and instead allowing healthy competition that made both of them better.

“We are very competitive within the two of us,” Savannah said. “If she’s going to do wall ball for 30 minutes, I’ll be there for 45 to an hour. There’s no rivalry. She always pushed me to be better.”

Savannah was a late bloomer. Meanwhile, Delaney attracted attention from college coaches in junior high. Recruiting rules were different back then. She spoke with numerous coaches, including Syracuse’s Gary Gait and USC’s Lindsey Munday. Savannah said that the two programs ended up being the finalists.

The idea of having a West Coast adventure appealed to Delaney in 2016 as a high school sophomore. Munday had shown interest in Savannah, too. Whether it was twin telepathy or not, the conversation on whether or not the two would be on the roster wasn’t a matter of “if.”

“We never talked about it,” Savannah said. “It was assumed that we were going to go to college together. Between the two of us, it was just a thing.”

They switched to girls’ lacrosse the year before verbally committing. Delaney had little trouble. During a storied career at Chestnut Hill Academy (Pa.), Delaney tallied 486 saves, 84 caused turnovers and 93 ground balls. She was a USA Lacrosse All-American, two-time Under Armour All-American — she made a game-winning assist in the Under Armour All-American game as a senior — and the No. 1 goalie in her class, according to Inside Lacrosse.

But Delaney didn’t see action during her freshman season in 2020. The pandemic didn’t help. She sat for most of the 2021 season with an injury, entering a trio of contests. Off the field, she felt the experience transformed her.

“They were developmental years,” she said. “I learned about myself and grew. Just dealing with the pandemic there forced me to grow, mature and look at my life and future and what I saw for it. I made hard decisions and took a chance on myself.”

One of those realizations was that she’s an “East Coast girl at heart.” And while she had Savannah, and her family made communicating work in separate time zones during a period when pandemic restrictions made travel more complex, it wasn’t the same. But the sisters weren’t always on the same page.

“Delaney came to the conclusion early on,” Savannah said. “She’s more outright, straight to the point. I wavered, but after having our separate reflections, we came to that conclusion.”

Dreaming big can have many definitions — striking out on a different coast and in an emerging hotbed. The sisters have no regrets and remain grateful to Munday and the veteran players who took them under their wings. But it was time to spread out for a different kind of “dream big” — one that involved playing for a perennial final four contender and that landed them closer to home.

The Orange were coming off an NCAA championship game appearance. It was in the midst of a coaching transition that saw Kayle Treanor, fresh off an NCAA title win as the associate head coach at Boston College, take the reins at her alma mater. Asa Goldstock, one of the best backstops in Syracuse history, graduated. It felt like the perfect storm of fresh starts.

But starting (and playing) wasn’t something the sisters had done much of in their careers. When she entered the portal, Savannah had seen action in 11 games, making three starts. She recognized that Treanor took a chance on them, and the two didn’t take it lightly, practicing every day in the backyard that summer. Despite her previous pedigree, Delaney walked onto campus with few expectations of starting and every bit willing to battle for playing time.

“Every day is a battle against yourself first and then the other person,” Delaney said. “Once I started to focus on myself and be grateful for the people I was competing against and what I can learn from them, it let me own my mindset and get better on and off the field. The mental performance was key, especially the grit and resilience, as a goalie.”

Kimber Hower saw the majority of the action for Syracuse in 2022, with Delaney playing in 13 contests with five starts. The script flipped — and then some — in 2023, when Delaney started all 21 games, stopped 50.5 percent of the shots she faced, allowed 9.20 goals per game and pushed Syracuse to the final four that eluded it the year before. Her save percentage took a dip in 2024 (.418), but she started every game and keyed the Orange’s return trip to an ACC championship game appearance and the NCAA semifinals, both losses to Boston College.

Although the losses were bittersweet, she still has a sweet taste in her mouth when she thinks back on her time at Syracuse, especially with her sister by her side.

“It was surreal,” Delaney said. “I remember being on the field in the past two final fours, looking around and seeing how far I’ve come and doing it with my sister. Just getting to do it with her and taking in every second was something I’ll never forget, even though we came up short.”

It was more than a nuclear family affair at Syracuse, a city without a professional sports team located in a hotbed for the sport. The football team has produced all-time greats, and the hoops team won it all in 2003 with some guy named Carmelo Anthony. But sometimes, even the students, especially the residents, will refer to the university as a “lacrosse school,” home to one of the sport’s original blue bloods. Walk into Manny’s, a sports apparel retailer, steps from campus on the beloved Marshall Street, and you’ll see plenty of lacrosse gear — lots of No. 22 jerseys beside No. 44 (a legendary football number) and No. 3 (Anthony’s number). It resonated with someone who grew up calling lacrosse her sport.

“It was such a cool experience,” Delaney said. “It wasn’t just the university but all of Syracuse and closer New York towns. They’re diehard Syracuse fans. People would come together to games and say things to us when we were in the streets, wearing our gear. It was a close-knit community and such a special place to be. I’ll never forget walking into the Dome for the first time and being like, ‘Wow, I play here.’”

And yet it was a community she decided to leave, though she wasn’t sure where she’d head next. Savannah’s eligibility was up, and she took the assistant job at Penn. Syracuse was a place she felt was one she shared with her sister and couldn’t imagine it without her. So, it was back to the backyard.

Meanwhile, in Evanston, Kelly Amonte Hiller was confident in the goalie corps she had to succeed Molly Laliberty, whose play helped Northwestern reach back-to-back NCAA title games and a championship in 2023. Cara Nugent saw action in both seasons as Laliberty’s backup. Syracuse native Francesca Argentieri won a gold medal with the US Women’s U20 National Team over the summer. But when Delaney reached out in the fall, Amonte Hiller, long an admirer of her energy from the opposing sideline, couldn’t pass up a conversation.

“Talking to someone who has five years already under their belt, has been through adversity, has grown, has been tested, it’s a very different conversation than talking to high school athletes when you’re recruiting,” Amonte Hiller said. “You could see, right off the bat, some of the things she’d been through, like having to prove herself at Syracuse. She has a true love of the game, and that’s what brought her back to it.”

Argentieri and Nugent were on board, and Delaney joined Northwestern in January, playing from behind and catching up.

Speaking of which: The last three months mark the longest the two sisters who nuzzled close before entering this world 60 ticks apart have been apart. Catching up is a bit harder, though the hour time difference isn’t as jarring as the Pacific Coast’s three-hour one.

“My sister actually called me this morning and woke me up at 6 a.m., which is 7 a.m. for her,” Delaney said.

Savannah can’t help herself.

“For 23 years, we’ve literally been together,” Savannah said. “We’ve been roommates for all of life. I call her my life teammate. It’s been an adjustment, but I know she’s flourishing.”

Indeed, Delaney has started each of the Wildcats’ last three contests and gone 2-1 with wins over Canisius and Colorado. She hasn’t gotten to immerse herself in off-campus Midwest lacrosse culture, so she can’t compare or speak to whether there are even more backyard lacrosse nets set up in the Midwest since writers marveled at them during the Northwestern dynasty in the aughts and early 2010s that ran contrast to the idea that the sport was for the Eastern Time Zone. But she does feel at home — even though she’s further from home — with the program culture and confidence that it’s the place she can collect the one memento her long-winding playing career has lacked.

“I have unfinished business,” Delaney said. “My sister and I dreamt of winning a national championship, so that’s huge. Also, I’m taking advantage of every opportunity to learn. That’s a huge reason that I wanted to stay in college lacrosse. I still feel like I can learn so much, especially from Kelly, Scottie, Charlie and Lex. I’m soaking in everything they have to say and enjoying the ride with my new teammates.”

It’s a ride that will end but not change at the end of the season when her college clock runs out. Her next stop is TBD: A goalie coach job at Penn, perhaps? (She laughed.) A chance to return to Los Angeles as part of the Olympic team in 2028? Something, or somewhere, in between or something else entirely? The sky’s the limit for a player unafraid to rack up frequent flier miles, but one thing is for sure.

“I could never walk away from the sport that’s given me so much,” Delaney said. “I’m not sure what my plan is, but I know lacrosse is in the future.”

Delaney has an extra season of time and a suitcase full of lessons that only a journey like hers can teach.