After setting a new program record in wins and coming a goal away from Siena's first women's lacrosse NCAA tournament appearance, rising senior Catherine Quinlan recently took the opportunity to represent the United States in Scotland and the UK through the USA Athletes International organization. From June 3-12, the defender from Corning, NY would represent Siena and her country in a four-game slate in USAAI's UK Lacrosse Invasion tour.
 
Appearing in all 19 games for the Green and Gold, posting 12 caused turnovers which was fourth in the Saints squad in 2019, Quinlan has quickly become a staple in the back line defense that led Siena to one of the top defending teams in the MAAC this past season. She jumped at the opportunity to play overseas wearing "USA" across the front of her jersey, as it all came together through the recommendation of other coaches around the country.
 
"I got an email from the coaches overseas – they would send emails out to other coaches first – and give suggestions for them," said Quinlan. "They would look for people who would represent their schools and the U.S. and would do well overseas and would be able to play."
 
Lining up to play on Quinlan's team were girls from all over the country, a mix of players across all three NCAA divisions across the United States. With no prior practice, the hard part would be learning to play with each other on the fly.
 
"I didn't know anyone before the trip," she said. "And that was the funny thing too, we played four games but there was no practice. We had our warmup before the game, so I was a little apprehensive about that thinking 'how is this going to go?' especially in our first game."
 
Quinlan's team went out and defeated a trio of club teams from the UK, spanning through England and Scotland in three straight games. With those victories, which were each by at least 10 goals according to Quinlan despite no scoreboards at the games, it led right into a matchup with the Scotland national team for their fourth and final game of the trip.
 
"Since it's a growing thing for the UK the game wasn't as competitive as I thought it would be [at the start]. But as far as practice, we really didn't get a lot of practice time which, you could tell," added Quinlan. "It was different playing with no practice and girls I've never played with before. But it was a lot of fun meeting the other teams and talking with them after, just hanging out with them talking about the rules since everything is different. The only real competitive game we played, we ended up playing the Scotland national team."
 
The USA squad would fall by six goals to the Scotland national squad. But with the experience all coming together, Quinlan believes the game is growing, and will continue to grow across the pond.
 
Quinlan said, "You think of America, and I have family out west or in the south and they don't even really know what lacrosse is yet. They didn't when I was younger, but it's getting more popular and spreading. I think it's the same thing over there, I think it's really cool because these girls only have club teams since they don't really have school teams yet. But, the interest that they have and the passion, I think it's going to spread. I think it's going to be just like America, I don't see why it wouldn't since more people are getting involved."
 
With international games under her belt, it was easy for Quinlan to pick up a few slight, subtle differences from the game in American to the international game.
 
"I would have to say some of the rules were different – mostly with the free movement," said Quinlan. But also just the speed that they play, I thought that was different. But overall I thought they were a little slower at some point, but it was cool to see all the similarities though too. I've never played against international players, but I saw a lot of similarities with team stuff, cohesiveness and communication. It's cool to see an international team do some of those same things that we do at home."
 
One of the perks of the trip included a lot of sightseeing, which for Quinlan, connected her whole experience. With some of her destinations featuring the location of the first women's lacrosse game in the UK,  or Arthur's Seat which can be seen from anywhere in Scotland, she took advantage of the time off the field to learn about the things that made where she was so special.
 
"It was pretty cool because every day we had some sort of trip which was all included, so everyday there was some tour of an old castle, monuments, all that," said Quinlan "Then we would get some free time and we would be able to go explore out on our own. So we spent like three days in England and the rest of the days were in Scotland. So we did a lot of things in Scotland, and I got to see a lot of cool stuff in our free time. We did a hike one day, and a bunch of the stuff was more active."
 
Luckily for Quinlan, she had experienced life over the Atlantic prior to her trip. Having been to Italy before with Siena's CSH class, she had experienced European life to an extent. As of now, however, she has a new favorite vacation destination.
 
Quinlan added, "I don't think I can say I was disappointed by anything. I wasn't expecting – probably the scenery in Scotland. I thought it was so beautiful… I liked the history there. We visited a ton of landmarks, so it seemed everything had history. It's an old place, but everywhere you went something had a story, or this person lived here, or someone or something did this here, like golf was created here. Everything had a story, and everything had a little history behind it so I think I'm going to miss learning something everywhere I went."
 
With her senior season on deck at Siena starting this fall, Quinlan immediately saw the advantage of creating relationships with everyone that joined her for the experience. After setting a new program record in wins just a year ago and coming within a goal of an NCAA berth, there's more that goes into being successful as a team.
 
"I'll remember this trip for the rest of my life, and I met these girls for 10 days but I did make some meaningful friendships," she said. "I think I can take that back to Siena, and I think of my own teammates and creating concrete relationships with them. I just think of last season, and how our team was so small and close. I'll take those relationships with me and cherish them. So coming back, it's going to be a reminder to keep those relationships, and it's not hard to do. I'm really grateful for them."
 
Now whether she gets the call once again, the answer is already set in stone whether she would join the USA team for a second time –
 
"Yes, in a heartbeat!"