Loyola women’s lacrosse senior Cydney Lisk recently chatted with PressBox about the recovering from a torn ACL, the player she looked up to when she first got to Loyola and more. The 5-foot-2 defender picked up 24 ground balls and caused eight turnovers for the Greyhounds in 2025. Lisk is a native of Catonsville and graduate of Glenelg Country School.
PressBox: How did you first become interested in lacrosse?
Cydney Lisk: I am born from two parents, [Carrie and Colin], who never played the sport. They did either soccer or volleyball, so I kind of went into the middle and did basketball. I played soccer a couple of years. One of my head coaches, Julia Hoffman, her mom was like, “She’s super aggressive. I think she would love to play lacrosse.” My mom being from Pennsylvania was like, “Is that the sport with the stick?” She had no clue. I kind of just got into it starting during kindergarten [and] first grade and I’ve loved it ever since. I picked it up from there because of the aggressiveness I showed in either soccer or basketball. We kind of just never stopped.
PB: Who was the biggest influence on your game growing up?
CL: Probably Helenmarie Hahn. We call her “Coach HM” down in Catonsville. She was an All-American at Maryland, but she was probably my first coach who truly taught me what it meant to be a lacrosse player on and off the field. I’ve stuck with many lessons throughout my life that she’s taught me. To this day if I ever have a question or just need advice about something, she’s always available, always one phone call away.
PB: What are your favorite memories from Glenelg Country School?
CL: Definitely my senior year, I think the gist of the entire year but making it to our IAAM A Conference championship, that was one of the biggest highlights. Though we didn’t win, it was something we did as a team together. Finishing out your senior year with a lot of my friends who I’ve grown up with, either playing for Hero’s or even other club teams or travel teams. I think another big, key memory [was] probably my freshman year playing with Shay Ahearn and Kate Sites, who obviously went on to play for Maryland. Playing with those types of players every single day just really made me excited to go out to practice each day and just kind of enjoy the game from there and fall in love with it even more.
PB: You played four years of high school basketball. How does playing basketball help you in lacrosse?
CL: I think the biggest thing is definitely footwork. Being a defender, obviously we know that you have to be able to move every which way, whether that be a cut, 1v1s, 2v2s. Having that in the winter really helped my game when it came to the spring because in basketball, you need your footwork more than you need your hands, with your stick being in lacrosse. Having that for three months during the winter really got me ready to go when spring hit because I was able to move my feet way quicker, which was super helpful.
PB: Why did you choose to go to Loyola?
CL: I chose to go to Loyola for the coaches — Caroline Hager, Dana Dobbie and obviously Jen Adams. They just made me feel not seen as just a player but also as a person, which I feel like is sometimes hard. But they made me feel like I was home from the minute I was on the phone call with them. I think what they said to me at the end of my phone call, “You will not fail here academically and athletically,” that was just something that stuck out to me and made me feel comfortable enough to join a program that is all about making women better not just on the field but also off the field.
PB: Why were you able to start right away as a freshman?
CL: I think it’s just from my coaches’ confidence in me. Being a freshman, it’s a lot of pressure when you’re coming in because you obviously are playing against your own class to get a starting spot but also you’re playing against these upperclassmen who have a lot of experience already out on the field. So I think really having my coaches every single day giving me advice on how I could do better in a certain drill or just a certain skill, doing that throughout the fall really gave me the confidence that I need from them. Having Jillian Wilson and Katie Detwiler telling me that I was doing a good job and pushing me to the absolute limit to see what they could get out of me really helped me and gave me the confidence going into that season.
PB: Why did you miss your sophomore season in 2024?
CL: I sadly missed the season due to an ACL-meniscus injury [in my left knee]. I tore the week [before the season started] against Florida in our bubble that we have at Ridley. It was just a super quick injury. It happened by myself. We were doing 2v2s. It was a noncontact injury. I went down, unfortunately, and had to miss the season. But my teammates and my coaches made me feel like I didn’t miss a beat when I wasn’t even on the field, making me feel like I was still a part of it, which I loved.
PB: What were your emotions when the injury occurred?
CL: I am a person who hates missing a practice, so when I first did it, I went down on the ground and I was like, “There’s no way I just did what I think I did.” I got up really fast and jogged off and did a couple exercises on the side to see if I was fine. Sadly, I went back down again. My immediate thought was, “Shit, something’s not right.” I was in denial for a little bit [in] the process of getting looked at by my trainer and seeing what had happened. I think the next day it was just the switch of mentality of, “Holy shit, you’re not playing anymore,” [to] now as a team member, a team player cheering for your teammates, for your family and [being] here for the coaches if they need anything. My process of when I got hurt was more like, “Shit happens, and now it’s time to see how you can be a team player and being there and supporting your teammates however they need you.”
PB: What was rehab like?
CL: My rehab was definitely more mental than physical. It was more about making sure that I could do everything in a positive way for myself because when you do see your friends on the field playing the sport that you love and you’re missing out, it is hard to see that, but I just made sure when I went into the trainers’ room or the lift room that each day I was getting better … or even just walking. It was really tough and grueling, but having my trainers there, my strength and conditioning coach and my coaches and teammates, it just made the process even easier.
PB: What was it like jumping back into competition last year?
CL: It was definitely a little scary, a little nerve-wracking because you always have that thought in the back of your head of, “Oh gosh, what if it happens again?” But I was more excited. Being out for a year, I was just so amped to be out there with my teammates again and my coaches, getting the stick high-fives and just a “good job” whenever that may come out of. I was more excited. Jumping into it, our first game was against Boston College. It was just super exciting playing against that type of team and that level of competition. I was super excited, yet a little nervous. But having my coaches there and the confidence that they put in me to be back out there on the field made the transition smoother for me.
PB: What’s your favorite memory at Loyola so far?
CL: I think my favorite memory definitely comes freshman year in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 against Stony Brook. It was just a game that was super grueling yet super fun at the same time in obviously our May heat weather here in Maryland. It was just a game where everything clicked for us [in a 12-8 win]. It was something that we had worked for all season. To get to that point and go on to play in the Elite Eight, it was something that we were super excited about. It was definitely a win that you felt was right. Probably one of the highlight wins of my freshman year was that one.
PB: How do you use the 14-13 overtime loss to Navy in the Patriot League championship game as motivation heading into the 2026 season?
CL: Obviously, we look at it as a whole group, but what I love about our coaches, especially Jen, is forgetting about that loss and realizing that it’s a new year, it’s a new team and that team from last year is not here anymore. We have so many great new freshmen, so much skill and so much grit and hunger. People who have been around this team last year, we experienced that loss. I think now it’s just turning it around and just being as good as we are each and every day out at practice and just having that hunger and that competition to come out each and every day, whether that be a 1v1 [or] a ground-ball drill and turning it into something positive that we can really look forward to the rest of this season.
PB: What’s your favorite thing about Baltimore?
CL: Just the culture. There are so many people that you meet here, whether they be from Towson or Hopkins or even Notre Dame. We have so many things going for the city. We obviously have our Ravens, our Orioles. And though they had tough seasons, I think it just brings everybody together. You meet so many new people that you could not have possibly thought of before, so I definitely love the culture here. Living here for 22 years, you can see it grow every single day. It makes the city more welcoming, I feel like, in that aspect and just more fun in a way.
PB: Who’s your best friend on the team and what’s a story that underscores your friendship?
CL: I’ll say Emily Scorcia. She’s in my senior class with me. We both came in as defenders. I think from the minute that we came into our freshman season, it just went all the way through. We’ve lived together every single year as well, whether that be direct roommates or a door down the hall from each other. But having that [translate] to the practice field, you could see it with the communication, whether that be in a drill or a scrimmage. Having her here as one of my best friends on the team has definitely made me enjoy the sport even more just because we both come from that environment and culture of lacrosse.
PB: Who did you look up to when you first got to Loyola?
CL: I think the biggest one was definitely Katie Detwiler. She was a fifth year when I was a freshman. Just seeing the accolades that she had, being a freshman and then starting as a captain her sophomore year all the way up to her fifth year, just everything she was as a person on and off the field, I just looked up to her because every day she came to practice ready to work hard for every single ground ball, every single 1v1. She was always a team player. She was always there no matter what. She was a super welcoming person as well. She just always had good, positive energy around her that you were just super attracted to, just to hang out with her and be with her. She also just helped me. As a freshman, I was new to the team. I didn’t know everything yet, still learning, so she just always had my back and always gave me good advice when I needed it and gave me the confidence to come out every single day at practice to play the sport I love and then obviously in games as well.
PB: What advice would you give to younger players going through the recruiting process?
CL: I think the biggest thing I learned that I would tell anyone going through it is enjoy it. I know it’s definitely a stressful process because you have so many schools texting you, emailing you, contacting you, calling you, but enjoy it because it’s something that you’re never going to get again. It’s a one-time thing, so just have fun. It’s very chaotic, but having these types of schools reach out to you and these coaches just talking about your game and what they appreciate about it and what they love about it, it’s a moment to be proud of yourself because you made it to what you’ve worked so hard for. Looking at it as more of a positive than a negative is the biggest thing that I would tell anybody.
PB: What goals for after lacrosse?
CL: I’m a forensic science major at Loyola, but my goal is to go into the criminology, criminal justice path and hopefully one day either becoming an FBI [or] Homeland Security agent or a lawyer depending on which path it would take me. I always just want to help somebody, help the world. That’s one of my biggest goals.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Loyola Athletics
Issue 297: February / March 2026
Originally published Feb. 18, 2026