This story appears in the January 2020 edition of US Lacrosse Magazine. Don't get the mag? Head to USLacrosse.org to subscribe.
When you’ve scored more than 200 goals in three seasons, as Adelphi’s Kole Pollock has done, it’s not surprising that people take notice.
When you play for a program that has had the level of success that the Panthers have had, with nine national championships, it makes the spotlight even a little brighter.
So it wasn’t far-fetched that Pollock, a catalyst in Adelphi’s latest NCAA title run in 2019, was recognized last season as both the IWLCA Division II Player of the Year and Attacker of the Year, while also earning first team All-American honors.
These individual accomplishments simply serve as motivation for the senior, who feels compelled to justify them.
“Winning those types of awards are incentive for me to work harder, because I have a lot to live up to,” Pollock said. “I do what I have to do to help my team. I just try to do my job.”
Ironically, while not seeking the spotlight, Pollock shined bright all of last season for the Panthers, including in the postseason. She scored 18 goals in four NCAA tournament games. She was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team and selected as the championship’s Most Outstanding Player following the 11-5 win over West Chester in the national championship game.
Pollock’s postseason accomplishments put an exclamation point on one of the best individual seasons in school history. She scored a team-high 81 goals and finished with 94 points in 2019. She scored three goals or more in 16 of last year’s 22 games.
Among last year’s barrage, perhaps no tally was bigger than the double-overtime game-winner in the 12-11 comeback win against No. 1-ranked Le Moyne in the East Regional final. That goal, with four seconds remaining in the extra session, lifted the Panthers back into the final four for the fifth time in six years.
“I remember every second of that play,” Pollock said. “The pass from my teammate. Taking the shot. It was the craziest moment of my life.”
Pollock has been a scoring machine from the moment she arrived on campus from nearby Massapequa, N.Y. She started 20 of 22 games as a freshman and finished second on the team with 49 goals and 69 points. She then set a new school record with 85 goals as a sophomore, ranking third in the nation in goals. She finished with 103 total points that year.
Currently sixth on Adelphi’s all-time list with 215 career goals, she is in position to finish her time in Garden City as the all-time leader. In a program rich with success, she will leave with her named etched throughout the record book.
“Kole is the total package,” Adelphi coach Pat McCabe said. “She gets noticed for her goals, but she does the things that are tough for the outside world to measure. Draw controls, rides, leadership. She doesn’t take a drill off in practice. She wants to be great.”
As a three-sport athlete in high school, Pollock’s great athleticism was no surprise. But her continued development as a lacrosse player since arriving on campus has been off the charts.
“When we were recruiting her, I didn’t think she had scratched the surface of how good she could really be,” McCabe said. “I knew that once she arrived and she put in the time, she was going to be great.”
It didn’t take long for Pollock to embrace Adelphi’s “no fear of failure” mantra. She plays fast and hard, dodging with a sense of purpose and quick first step.
“If I see the back of the defender’s head, I just go,” she said.
And it’s not like Adelphi can just sneak up on an opponent. The Panthers have gone 59-7 in Pollock’s first three seasons, with two NCAA trophies.
“Every time we play it’s for a reason,” Pollock said. “We play as hard as we can because we know that everybody is gunning for us.”
That gladiator’s mentality is one of the things that McCabe says helps separate Pollock from others.
“She’s focused and locked in,” he said. “She understands her place in the game, and she’s pretty comfortable in who she is. She wants to win.”