Taylor Malone, a Fayetteville-Perry graduate, has used her skills on the hardwood to transition from volleyball and basketball to a key role on the Thomas More University women’s lacrosse team. Photo via Thomas More Athletics.
Last season, a total of 276 lacrosse teams took to fields throughout Ohio.
None of those teams are in Brown County, but one local represents the county on the lacrosse field at the collegiate level nonetheless.
Fayetteville-Perry graduate Taylor Malone turned in a stellar junior season for the Thomas More women’s lacrosse team this past spring even though that wasn’t the sport that originally brought her to Crestview Hills, Kentucky.
“I was trying to play volleyball at Thomas More, but I hadn’t gotten ahold of the coach until after the season had already started,” Malone said. “The lacrosse coach was new there this year and he had heard I was looking to play a sport.”
Malone’s initial reaction was…less than enthusiastic, but she eventually changed her mind.
“I said ‘No,’” Malone said. “‘I don’t even know what that is.’ He said ‘Come to a few practices, see if you like it.’ I went to a few, met the team. They were all very welcoming, and once I picked up the stick and started throwing they were all encouraging. It was fun, I enjoyed it.”
While the sport of lacrosse is growing across the country, it hasn’t made too much headway in this area of Southwest Ohio. No Southern Hills Athletic Conference schools sponsor the sport and only one district in the Southern Buckeye Conference (Wilmington) has a boys’ team. No SBAAC teams sponsor girls lacrosse.
Even though Malone hadn’t been introduced to the sport before joining the team, her time on the hardwood at Fayetteville gave her skills that transitioned well to the field.
“The coach, when he recruited me, was like, ‘Well, you play basketball, so you’ll catch on pretty quick,” Malone said. “When he first said that, I was like, ‘How in the world does that have anything to do with lacrosse?’ but they run plays like they do in basketball, they play defense like they do in basketball. It’s a mix of basketball and soccer, but you don’t use your feet. You use a stick and a ball.”
It took some time, but luckily Malone had a few months to prepare before the team’s season began.
“It probably took me a good three months,” Malone said. “I started in September and our spring season didn’t start until February, so I had all that time but I think I got it now.”
Malone is primarily a defender, but she did crack the scoring column for the Saints in the team’s game against Keiser this past April for her first career goal. In all, she started all 17 games and recorded 18 ground balls, 19 forced turnovers and two draw controls to go along with that score.
“I love defense,” Malone said. “I always did in basketball. I scored my first goal in our very last game. That was amazing.”
That defense-first mindset made Malone a little hesitant to get involved on the offensive side of things.
“I never wanted to,” Malone said. “I’m new to the team, I didn’t want to turn it over and give the other team points. I was hesitant about taking the ball up the field.”
Malone passed the ball to a teammate, who ripped a shot that didn’t go in. The rebound came to Malone, who fired a shot into the net for her first career goal.
“It was exciting, the whole team swarmed me,” Malone said. “It was awesome.”
With Malone entering her senior year this fall, she is also taking steps for life after Thomas More. A criminal justice major, Malone currently interns for a local police department. She said she hopes to get into police work after graduation.
Until then, Malone can enjoy her final year at Thomas More where the overall camaraderie between the teams and the community was a big reason she chose to attend the university.
“It’s been really cool,” Malone said. “I like the atmosphere there. The teams all work together and the community works together and supports each other, it’s nice.”
