Meet Alice Ripper, the Most Unique Grad Transfer in Lacrosse this Year

After the shortened 2020 season, the transfer portal almost felt like free agency, with talented players — often with one extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic, but sometimes more — taking their talents to blue blood programs.

North Carolina won the 2022 NCAA championship on the heels of graduate transfer Sam Geiersbach (Richmond) and her combined eight goals between the semifinal and title games. Northwestern got key contributions from Hailey Rhatigan (Mercer) and Molly Laliberty (Tufts) the following year, and Boston College won this May with standouts Emma LoPinto (Florida) and Rachel Clark (Virginia).

These players had to switch jerseys and cross state lines to earn rings. Alice Ripper crossed the pond this fall with dreams of doing the same in Chapel Hill. Ripper, a midfielder for the England National Team, was in Chapel Hill last year as part of a U.S. college tour that saw the squad play High Point, Clemson, Queens and North Carolina.

After the game, she wanted more than a photo with members of the Tar Heels. Ripper wanted to know if she had a chance of joining them for the 2025 campaign. Jenny Levy admits she had to pause.

“All of England seems to be tall, blonde and aggressive and like Emily [Nalls, a UNC alum who played for the English National team], so I wasn’t sure which one she was,” said Levy, ever the straight shooter.

Levy hit rewind on the tape and was quickly impressed by Ripper’s height (she’s 5’8”) and energy. Ripper has long been impressed with UNC. For a while, she had ESPN access in the United Kingdom. When she lost it, she found a way to watch the sport’s top college programs in true Gen-Z fashion.

“I would YouTube as much as I could and watched the likes of UNC and Boston College and looked up to those athletes,” Ripper said.

Ripper also had idols closer to home, like Emma Oakley. But lacrosse wasn’t her first choice. Like many English athletes who don’t go the football (soccer) route, Ripper initially picked up a field hockey stick. The English women’s field hockey team medaled in three straight Summer Olympic Games (2012, 2016, 2020) and struck gold in 2016.

Then, Ripper gave lacrosse a go at age 11. It was love at first cradle, but she’s far from an overnight success story — and that was part of the appeal.

“When you’re on a team, and you’re learning how to throw a catch and dropping every pass, you have to put your mind to it,” Ripper said. “Once it clicks, it’s really rewarding to see what you can do with it.”

Part of Ripper dreamed of playing in the U.S. for the same teams whose YouTube highlight reels were considered appointment viewing.

“The U.S. is the best place in the world for lacrosse,” Ripper said. “I thought about [applying to schools there], but I probably wasn’t at a level where I could go, be what I wanted to be and get the most out of it. I needed those years to catch up as a UK player.”

She did more than catch up. Ripper stood out, serving as the University of Exeter team captain from 2022-24 and earning the school’s Sportswoman of the Year honor in 2024. She also began making a name for herself on the international scene as part of the U23 team that came to the U.S. to support the English senior team at the 2022 World Lacrosse Women’s Championship.

The English earned bronze that year, receiving contributions from Nalls, who grew up in Maryland, and Laura Merrifield, the British-born English team legend who won an NCAA championship with Maryland in 2010.

Caryl Duckworth, who won rings with the Terps in the 1990s, is among the small pool of higher-profile British natives to find success with prominent U.S. college programs. While the English have medaled internationally, it’s less common for them to make U.S. rosters than seeing “Canada” or “Australia” listed in the hometown column.

Levy, long an advocate for growing the game globally, wasn’t deterred by the shortlist. If anything, it was a selling point. She was excited to see Japan win bronze at the World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship this summer and followed the Louisville careers of Kokoro and Negai Nakazawa.

She hopes those success stories breed more of them.

“It shows other countries and maybe inspires them to say, ‘Hey, if you support your female student-athletes, starting at a youth level, look how great they can be,’” Levy said.

The desire to be great is what drew Ripper to UNC in the first place. She could’ve hung up her cleats following her final year at Exeter or exclusively committed herself to international lacrosse and the Olympics. But with a year of eligibility left (and fewer regulations than U.S. college players entering the portal), Ripper figured she had nothing to lose by approaching Levy last fall.

“I came away from that tour and thought, ‘You know what? This is definitely something that I still want to do. I have one more year of eligibility,’” Ripper said. “It would be one of those things that I would have looked back and wished I at least tried if I got to 60 years old.”

Chapel Hill felt like a home miles away from home and a place where she could grow ahead of a potential run at the English Olympic team roster.

Where will Ripper’s “home” be in the Tar Heels lineup? It’s too soon to tell. Levy predicts she’ll likely stay a midfielder, but fall practices just started.

The go-getter attitude that prompted Ripper to introduce herself to Levy and embrace a good challenge, that saw her stick with lacrosse, has been on full display.

“She’s fearless,” Levy said. “She goes for it, and if it doesn’t go right, she’s old enough to have a lot of confidence to be like, ‘OK, I can get that right. I can work extra and figure that out.’”

The Heels have talent for days, with defender Brooklyn Walker-Welch, midfielder Kaleigh Harden and attacker Marissa White returning from injuries that saw them sit out all of 2024. Attacker Chloe Humphrey will also make her long-awaited Division I debut after getting bitten by the preseason injury bug, and a talented group of freshmen, headlined by Kate Levy (yes, Jenny’s daughter), have also stepped foot on campus.

The Tar Heels will again face lofty expectations, something Ripper got a taste of as a member of the English team that won the European Championship (as predicted) in July.

“We had the pressure of living up to the expectation of showing the rest of the world what England can be, which was fantastic,” Ripper said. “Winning was awesome, and when you get those rewards, it gives you more fire to do it again.”

Ripper hopes to do it again at North Carolina — with a smile.

“My goal is to win a national championship,” Ripper said. “That’s why everyone is here. I also want to enjoy getting better, roll with whatever happens and get out there and contribute. To have this opportunity is awesome, and I’m grateful for it. Making the most of it is important.”