PressBox recently chatted with Johns Hopkins women’s lacrosse senior Ashley Mackin about her favorite memory so far with the Blue Jays, the player she looked up to early in her career and more. The 5-foot-7 midfielder scored 48 goals and dished out 18 assists in 2024. Mackin is a native of Westwood, Mass., and graduate of Westwood High School.
PressBox: How did you first become interested in lacrosse?
Ashley Mackin: I was lucky enough to be raised in a town that had a really good girls’ lacrosse program. I remember being in third grade and hearing how the high school team was winning state championship after state championship. The head coach was running a really good club program. I was just lucky enough to be exposed to a high quality of lacrosse at a young age. I think hearing about girls getting these scholarships to go play at the college level always just sounded amazing. Getting exposed that early on set a really good foundation for me for where I am now.
PB: Who was the biggest influence on your game growing up?
AM: I’d probably just say my dad, [Kenneth]. He has no background in lacrosse whatsoever, but I think he saw how much I loved it that he did his outside research and he would send me clips. He would be in the back yard playing with me and showing me ways that I could get better. That kept up my passion for the sport and increased my creativity and my want to continue to play.
PB: Why did you choose to go to Johns Hopkins?
AM: There was just something different about it when I toured the school compared to everywhere else. The second I met the team, it just felt like a family. I know everybody always says that, but you step through the building, you’re getting a hug from every single person that you see. They make you so welcome. From the second you were there to the second that you left, they wanted you to be there. I felt like I was being taken care of but also being pushed at the same time. On top of that, it is such a great academic school. I wanted to use lacrosse to help me excel in the academics and [move] forward in that. I was very lucky to have that — and I really like the colors, too.
PB: What allowed you to score 48 goals in 2024?
AM: Just understanding my teammates. I think every single one of us has different strengths, and it’s just understanding how you can play off of them to elevate your own and to elevate theirs. We’re not just these dodgers who are ripping alley shots the whole time like many other programs do. Every single time it’s because of at least three other people who I’m working with. They’re the ones that are getting me open and creating a lane for myself, so really just understanding their tendencies was able to help me with mine.
PB: What’s it like to score seven goals in a game?
AM: At the end of the day, we lost that game. It didn’t matter anymore to me. It was just upsetting. You just felt like you did so much but you still came up short. But it kind of just drives you to never have that feeling again.
PB: What will give your team a chance to get over the hump in the NCAA Tournament under third-year coach Tim McCormack?
AM: The belief thing. I think that’s where we’ve been lacking. All of us were recruited to a program that’s usually ranked top 20, top 25 … but it’s a different culture now. We have new habits, new tendencies, new core values that every single one of us believes in day in and day out. Honing that for the next few months is what’s going to make us go further in May. Owning those core principles that we talk about every single day is what’s going to be different this year.
PB: What’s your favorite memory so far at Hopkins?
AM: We had one game my sophomore year against Rutgers and we were down by six. It was very ugly in the first half, and our team all just decided in the third quarter and mainly the fourth that we had to change it around and do something different. We all played for each other. We came back to win the game. I started taking the draws. I never take draws. It was just an electric game. Everyone was doing a different role and it worked. It was awesome.
PB: Who is your best friend on the team and what’s a story that underscores your friendship?
AM: Probably Alayna Costa. I think we’re always running around [pulling] pranks at people, especially in Cordish — messing with our coaches, messing with the men’s coaches. [It’s] all fun and games with her, which is awesome.
PB: Who was a player you looked up to when you first got to Hopkins?
AM: I always looked up to Maeve Barker. She was only two years older than me, but she lives five minutes away from me at home, which is really nice. I had met her when I was committed. She was someone I could lean on, talk to before I got here. She was very even-keeled and calm, and I think that was something that I just needed at a school like Hopkins where everything’s go-go-go. You’re always stressed. You’re always overwhelmed. I could look to my side and she was right there going steady. It kind of brought me down and helped me out.
PB: What advice do you have for younger players going through the recruiting process?
AM: I would say I wasn’t super highly recruited. It’s just tough. It’s hard to get your name out there, especially if you’re living in an area [where lacrosse] is not as popular. At the end of the day, your hard work is going to beat anything else that other people think of you. If you keep showing up and you’re putting in full effort to every single practice and you do every single film session and every single tournament, the results will begin to come. You can’t just drop off if you’re not liking the results at the moment.
PB: What are your goals for after lacrosse?
AM: I want to have a career that I enjoy, that’s steady and prioritizes my health, my friends, my family. I’d ideally like to travel a lot.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics
Issue 291: February / March 2025
Originally published Feb. 19, 2025