Despite hailing from the other side of the world, Loyola women’s lacrosse attacker Georgia Latch had already visited her future campus before the recruiting process kicked into gear.
A native of Melbourne, Latch represented Australia in the Under-19 Women’s Lacrosse World Championship hosted by Canada in 2019. The Australian team made a pit stop at Loyola for training camp before heading north, which marked Latch’s first time visiting the United States. A couple years later, Loyola became Latch’s new home.
Latch shined during the tournament, leading her team with 18 goals in just seven games. Latch had always been on Loyola head coach Jen Adams’ radar, but Adams got to work with the talented prospect up close as the head coach of Australia’s U-19 team during that tournament. Their shared Australian heritage influenced Latch’s decision to come to Baltimore.
“After the tournament she garnered a lot of interest and a lot of different teams were trying to recruit Georgia and fortunately we were able to jump on that,” Adams said.
Latch’s transition to life in the United States and at Loyola was made easier because of how close she is to her teammates.
“Just the team honestly made it the easiest thing alive,” Latch said. “They basically are a family to me at this point. They fight over me every holiday to have me at their house.”
Latch enters her junior season as the reigning Patriot League Attacker of the Year and hopes to propel Loyola to a Patriot League championship. She excelled during the first two years of her college career after playing with and against players who were much older than her in Australia.
In Australia, players play for club teams based in their area instead of playing for their high school like in the U.S. Additionally, players on these Australian lacrosse clubs can remain members for as long as they want, which makes for huge differences in playing experience.
“Since I was about 12 years old I was playing with people that are at least 10 years older than me, so when I came in as a freshman I was less intimidated,” Latch said.
Latch began playing boys’ lacrosse with her older brothers Kyle and Oscar for a year or two before playing with both girls and boys. She played with both until she was 13 or 14, at which point she began playing with girls full time.
Latch’s early playing experience back home was similar to that of another college player. St. Joseph’s senior midfielder Bonnie Yu, one of Latch’s best friends, shared the field with her.
Adams said it is becoming less common for girls to start out playing with and against boys in lacrosse as the sport has grown in Australia. However, the experience playing against boys helped make the transition from club lacrosse to American college lacrosse seamless for Latch.
“I can handle a lot more shoving and pushing, checks than I probably would have been able to handle if I was playing just girls’ lacrosse my whole life,” Latch said.
Both Adams and Loyola senior attacker Sydni Black praised Latch’s consistency. During her freshman year in 2022, Latch accumulated 38 goals and 38 assists to earn Patriot League Rookie of the Year. The 5-foot-8 attacker followed that stellar campaign with 45 goals and 44 assists in 2023.
“I’m not surprised that this is what she’s doing,” Adams said. “But obviously her consistency is something that’s a really difficult thing to do, to come in and to not have the slumps and to step up and immediately make an impact.”
Loyola has been knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the quarterfinals each of the past two years. Those Greyhound squads were led by veterans who showed the way for Latch and Black, who bonded early and developed stellar on-field chemistry.
“I think we both bonded a lot really early, just knowing we had each other’s back and no matter what we had friends in each other,” Black said.
That chemistry continued evolving in 2023, when Black and Latch were roommates. They took advantage of Baltimore’s food scene, trying a variety of places along the way.
“We started going to get dinner almost every other Thursday at an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue place, which was really fun for us,” Black said.
Those outings became a staple in Latch’s weekly routine and grew to include other roommates and teammates, but this spring, lacrosse takes center stage. Loyola opened the 2024 season as the No. 8 team in the country, according to Inside Lacrosse. The Greyhounds will be tested with nonconference games against Johns Hopkins (Feb. 21), Penn State (March 2) and Syracuse (March 27). The bulk of Patriot League play gets underway with a visit to Army on March 16.
Slated to be the quarterback of Loyola’s attack unit, Latch is aiming to help the Greyhounds advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2003.
“There’s really no ceiling for her,” Black said.
Photo Credit: Larry French
Issue 285: February/March 2024
Originally published Feb. 21, 2024