Lane’s speed helped her stand out on the lacrosse field. She was a leading scorer for the Hollins program.
“I loved playing against half the people I played against because I could always beat them off the mark,” she said. “I got the first two steps. There were only a couple people that I hated playing against because you had to defend them as well as they defended you at the other end of the field.”
A couple weeks after graduating from Hollins, Lane remembers moving on to the U.S. women’s national team program, but having a rocky start.
“I go into the U.S. practices and we had to do this long distance run and I’m the last one done,” Lane recalled. “I’m a sprinter. I can beat anybody in a 30-yard sprint. And they’re cheering me on to help me finish. I thought, I really, really like these people, and they motivated you to train. For the first time, I seriously started to think about what training was. I’d gotten by on talent before that.”
Lane proved herself in the tryouts and found her spot on the U.S. offense. She went on to play on the 1981 U.S. Touring Team to Australia.
“Making the squad was amazing,” Lane said. “There was an in-house tour from England and I got to play on the reserve squad that year, and that was fun. Then, I made the travel team to Australia and that was such an amazing trip with such amazing people. It was incredible.”
It led into the first World Cup, which was played in 1982 in England. The U.S. trailed Australia, 6-1, at halftime of the championship game before it rallied. There were only a few minutes left in regulation when Lane tied the game with a shot she shoveled in underhand. The United States went on to win in overtime, something Lane credited to the coaches for practicing an overtime period every day in practice. She was named to the all-tournament team.
“Hollins gave me leadership skills or the ability to be confident in my ability,” Lane said. “It wasn’t until I got to the U.S. squad that they raised the level of everyone. When we started with (U.S. coach) Jackie Pitts, the best thing she did was raise the level of our skill. We would hardly drop a ball.
“We hardly made any mistakes. Our level of play was so high. I give the coaches credit. We had a group of kids that trusted each other and were selfless. There weren’t too many ‘I’s’ in that team.”
Lane was a four-time all-tournament honoree at the U.S. Women’s National Tournament. She has been inducted into the Springside Athletic Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Lacrosse Association Hall of Fame, the US Lacrosse Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter’s Hall of Fame, and was among the three original inductees into Hollins very first Athletic Hall of Fame class. She is being inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame on September 23 as a truly great player.
“It’s such a team sport and I have so many fond memories of working together as a unit that I feel like if I make it, everybody I played with should make it,” Lane said. “They helped make me successful, and vice versa. It’s a very, very nice honor and I’m extremely humbled and proud. It’s pretty cool.”
Lane returned to Springside to teach and coach. She coached field hockey, basketball and lacrosse. In her first year as the girls' lacrosse coach, Lane’s team went unbeaten.
“I had never coached before,” Lane said. “I took my U.S. practices and applied them to my high school team.”
Lane’s coaching career mirrored her own playing career. It wasn’t very long, but it had variety and it had success.
She went on to become the athletic director at Springside before stepping down to focus on her family with husband, Fran Lane. Now grown, their two sons are college coaches while their daughter is in real estate. Lane is retired and spends her time reading and woodworking while splitting time between Philadelphia and South Carolina.
Doug Knight, Leslie Blankin Lane, Jim McDonald, Laurette Payette, Casey Powell, Jill Johnson Redfern, Brooks Sweet, Robyn Nye Wood and Don Zimmerman will be inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in a black tie-optional ceremony Sept. 23 at The Grand Lodge in Hunt Valley, Md. For more information, visit uslacrosse.org/hof.