Towson women’s lacrosse senior Ocea Leavy recently chatted with PressBox about growing up playing lacrosse in Australia, how her breakout 2025 season came about and more. The 5-foot-6 midfielder scored 21 goals and picked up 17 ground balls for the Tigers in 2025. Leavy is a native of Perth, Western Australia.
PressBox: How did you first become interested in lacrosse?
Ocea Leavy: Lacrosse is really small in Australia, [but] my family has always played back to my grandparents. They used to play and my dad and all my cousins still play and I picked it up, so just through family.
PB: How small is lacrosse in Australia?
OL: We don’t have any high school lacrosse or anything. We just have a handful of club teams, and we just play every Sunday.
PB: Who was the biggest influence on your game growing up?
OL: Definitely my dad, [Gavin]. He also coaches lacrosse. Both of my parents and family are so supportive, but my dad is always the one driving me to places, making sure I get a gym membership, I’m doing my runs. He always believed in me and made sure that I believed in myself, so he was definitely the most influential in my lacrosse.
PB: How is lacrosse different in the U.S. than in Australia?
OL: I would say it’s completely different, especially being in Maryland where it’s a lacrosse hot spot. The biggest difference is no high school lacrosse. My teammates think it’s so crazy that I didn’t play lacrosse in my school or anything. Another big difference is [that] because it is so small, I was like 14 playing against 30-year-olds, which definitely benefited me coming into college. There’s just not enough teams and not enough people to have [separate] age groups.
PB: How did you start getting college looks in the U.S.?
OL: I was lucky enough to be part of a junior Australian team in 2019. At the time, Sonia LaMonica was the coach of Towson. She was just coming home to Australia, visiting family and stuff. The head coach at the time, [Loyola’s Jen Adams], was an old teammate of Sonia’s, so she came down and did a couple drills with us. I was fortunate enough to be a part of it. That’s when I first got noticed by her. I played for Australia in the [2019 World Lacrosse Women’s U19 Championship in Canada]. I got a couple more looks through that as well.
PB: Had you played any lacrosse in the U.S. prior to enrolling at Towson?
OL: No. I had visited a couple of times. I played in the U19 World Cup in Peterborough, Canada, so we actually stayed at Loyola and did a camp there, but I never competed in any showcases or scouting camps or anything.
PB: Why did you choose to stick around at Towson after LaMonica left for Virginia after the 2023 season?
OL: I just had such a fantastic freshman year with my teammates. I loved the school. I loved the culture. Obviously, it was very sad when I heard Sonia was leaving, but then having [head coach Kristen Carr] come in and now [assistant coach Rebecca Lane] is Australian as well. There was no way I was leaving after all the relationships I had built with my teammates. I’m forever grateful that I stayed.
PB: What’s your favorite memory so far at Towson?
OL: My favorite memory [is] probably last year [when] we took a trip to Florida. We beat Jacksonville and two days later we beat USF by a goal in the last 30 seconds. Sweeping Florida was a good memory.
PB: How did your breakout season in 2025 come about?
OL: I think just got a lot of confidence, especially from my coaches and my teammates. In the summer coming into my junior year, I competed in the [World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship] in Hong Kong. I was very satisfied with my performance there — scoring a lot of goals, playing good defense. I just brought that confidence into my junior year season. The more goals I started to score and things like that, I just grew more and more confident. The coaches play such a big role in that, always reassuring me. “Just go out there, try new things, take risks, be courageous.”
PB: What’s your favorite thing about Towson the town?
OL: I don’t venture out much, but I do love this sushi place called Sushi Ichiban. That’s the best sushi I’ve ever had, so I really do like that.
PB: Who’s your best friend on the team and what’s a story that underscores your friendship?
OL: I have three roommates — Lexi Aaron, Jess Lampasone and Hailey Waldron. Me and Jess are seniors. Lexi and Hailey are juniors. They moved in after their freshman year. We’re like an odd bunch and we’re very different in a lot of ways, but then when we mesh together it just works. I think we can be silly together. Me and Hailey play midfield together, so we’re very close — always doing film together. I don’t have a car, so they drive me everywhere, so they can’t get rid of me.
PB: Who was a player you looked up to when you first got to Towson?
OL: I would say Blair Pearre. She was a senior when I was a freshman. As soon as I committed to Towson, I think she was a sophomore. She was on the Tewaaraton Watch List. She was No. 1 in the nation for free position. She played midfield. I really looked up to her and wanted to be like her when I was older.
PB: What advice would you give to younger players going through the recruiting process, particularly Australians?
OL: I would say there is no one way to do anything, especially nowadays. It really doesn’t matter if you’re not from America. You have Zoom. Everyone’s on email now. Film is so much more accessible. I was getting recruited during COVID, so if I can do that, then anyone in Australia can do it [by] using your network [and] not being afraid to reach out. Reach for the stars and believe that truly anything is possible.
PB: What are your goals for after lacrosse?
OL: I’m planning to move back to Australia to get some more family time. I’m aspiring to go to the Olympics in 2028. I’m on the national Sixes squad, so hopefully just working hard and playing lacrosse until I’m old and gray.
PB: What would it mean to you to make the Olympic team?
OL: It would be the biggest accomplishment of my life. If I don’t make it, I think just making sure I worked as hard as I can and just having no regrets. It would be the greatest accomplishment of my life. It’s hard to put into words what it would mean to me.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Towson Athletics