Diversity and representation in women’s lacrosse

By Enzo Di Giovanni 

NEW YORK – Janiah Mulcare is a 22-year-old woman currently pursuing nursing, but before she became passionate for the care of others, she fell in love with lacrosse, Mulcare is someone who values community and representation. In her earlier years, she moved from Queens to Long Island, and she fell in love with lacrosse. As an African-American girl in middle school, she noticed that not many girls like her were playing lacrosse. The underrepresentation that she felt can be seen clearly in the NCAA. While there are over 500 women's lacrosse programs sponsored by the NCAA, statistics from 2019 showed that 84% of women's college lacrosse players identified as white, and 3.5% identified as African-American.

Mulcare, who is from St. Albans, moved to Deer Park and found herself making friends who enjoyed lacrosse, which sparked her interest in the sport. At first, she thought of playing lacrosse just to be with friends and to create a community. But she soon noticed that very few people on the field looked like her, and it inspired her. Mulcare said “Even though I was really young at the time. I noticed that not a lot of Black girls played lacrosse, so I wanted to be like, you know, some sort of representation for other girls that wanted to play lacrosse like me.”

Mulcare is one of several African-American women who have felt inspired to join lacrosse over recent years. In the NCAA, women’s lacrosse has seen a boost in African-American athletes, with numbers up 38% percent in the past 10 years to 397 athletes in 2023-2024. This rise in participating athletes can be seen as encouraging for the next generation of African-American athletes to continue to expand into a space where they are not commonly seen. While Black athletes are still the large minority in lacrosse, rising numbers can spark inspire action in participation. The same action that Mulcare participated in herself.

Mulcare struggled at first to adapt to lacrosse and did not receive much playing time in her first season. But as time went on, she became an excellent player at the defensive position who played on two teams and became a starter. Mulcare praised her first coach, who was a major help in her journey as a player, and with whom she had a personal connection with. She said, “Coach Higgins, he coached my lacrosse team, but he also did coach my uncle Danny when he played baseball at Deer Park. So yeah, it was a full circle moment.”

Coming from a minority community in Queens, Mulcare did not know much about lacrosse. Lacrosse, being a predominately white sport, is uncommon in many minority communities. Lacrosse requires a big financial commitment, which can be problematic in minority communities. On average, it takes at least $500 to outfit one lacrosse player with full equipment and apparel. Since many minority communities struggle with financial issues, this has a direct effect in participation. As a player, she had to learn everything from zero. She experienced many highs and lows in her time, going undefeated in her last season and subsequently losing her final game in the playoffs. Throughout all of the moments, she still felt a strong connection to lacrosse that would last forever.

Although Mulcare’s playing days are over, she is looking forward to teaching lacrosse this summer as a camp counselor for children in Maryland. She feels that the same impact lacrosse had on her, in terms of personal development, can be passed down. In the end, Mulcare’s life was impacted heavily by lacrosse, and she hopes the next generation of athletes will be impacted as well.