Shopping at Target means more than good prices on clothes and household goods. For Erin McGuire, it was also the gateway to a new chapter in her college lacrosse career.

Shortly after completing the 2019 season at Division I Jacksonville, McGuire placed her name in the NCAA’s transfer portal. She wasn’t eager to leave the Dolphins’ program, but as a recent graduate, she wanted to consider all options.

Her name hadn’t been in the portal for more than a few hours when her cell phone started ringing during a shopping trip at Target. Head coach Jack Cribbin from Lindenwood University was on the line.

“I think he contacted me within the first two hours of being in the portal,” McGuire said. “I had never heard of Lindenwood. Didn’t even know it existed.”

Located in St. Charles, Missouri, one of the western suburbs of St. Louis, Lindenwood has become one of the top NCAA Division II programs since moving to varsity status in 2012. Cribbin has been with the program since its inception and has piloted the Lions to six straight NCAA tournament appearances.

A quick 5-0 start this season had vaulted Lindenwood into the No. 1 spot in the Nike/US Lacrosse Women’s Division II Top 20. Despite suffering their first loss of the year Wednesday night, a 16-13 setback against No. 17 Grand Valley State, the Lions appear to be positioned for a another strong run in 2020.

McGuire listened to Cribbin’s pitch while she pushed her shopping cart through the store and accepted his invitation to visit the campus in St. Charles.

“I had never been to the Midwest before, so it was kind of exciting,” said McGuire, who visited Lindenwood and two other schools last June. She didn’t need a lot of time to decide.

“Something about Lindenwood just felt really right,” she said.

Now, almost nine months later, that feeling is paying dividends on the field.

Through six games, McGuire leads the Lions with 19 assists and 34 points. In last week’s two victories in Florida, she registered a combined six goals and seven assists as the Lions posted wins over No. 14 Florida Southern and No. 3 Tampa. She also had two goals and three assists in Wednesday’s game against GVSU.

“She has been a fabulous fit for us and made an immediate impact,” Cribbin said. “She’s a great teammate who brings a lot of positive energy to the team.”

The fact that Cribbin has built a program that seamlessly welcomes transfers may have helped ease McGuire’s transition. She is one of six players on this year’s squad who started their careers at other schools, including midfielder Lexy Biller from Oregon and goalie Eleanor Kast from Stony Brook.

“With the NCAA portal, everybody knows about everybody,” Cribbin said. “We have conversations with potential transfers to see if they will be a good fit. It’s not easy going to a new program. It can be daunting task.”

That clearly hasn’t been an issue for McGuire, who has made her presence felt as quickly with the Lions as she did initially at Jacksonville.

As a freshman in 2016, the attacker from Westminster, Md., was named to the ASUN’s All-Freshman Team while seeing action in all 18 games for the Dolphins.

McGuire sat out the 2017 season due to injury but returned in 2018 to set a new Jacksonville single-season record with 35 assists. She also led the ASUN in assists that season and was named to the all-conference second team.

Last year, she once again led the team in assists (26) and finished fifth on the team in scoring with 43 points. She also notched three game-winning goals as the Dolphins won their eighth conference title and made their sixth NCAA tournament appearance. A tightly contested loss to Michigan in the NCAA tournament brought the curtain down on a record-setting 17-win season.

McGuire is hoping that 2020 will yield the same kind of positive outcomes. Surrounded on offense by talented finishers like All-American Carly Fedorowski, Hannah Doughty and Biller, the Lions rank among the nation’s top scoring teams.

“We’re in a great position right now and just want to keep it going,” said McGuire, who is pursuing an MBA at Lindenwood. “We’re really excited to see how this team will grow.”

There’s no buyer’s remorse for this Target shopper.

“It was a hard decision to leave Jacksonville, and I still have a lot of friends that I talk to on that team,” McGuire said. “But being here now feels pretty natural. I think I made the right decision.”