Katie O'Donnell
Biography
Personal: O'Donnell was named the head women's lacrosse coach at Drexel University on May 23, 2023, after serving as the interim head coach during the 2022 and 2023 campaigns. She was previously an assistant coach at Drexel when the team won their first Colonial Athletic Association title in 2021. She also spent two years on the coaching staff at Lehigh University. O'Donnell’s mother, Jen, is a renowned official in women's lacrosse and was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. In her free time, O'Donnell enjoys snowboarding, reading, cooking, and playing golf. She has a golden retriever named Brewer. She credits Penn State head women's lacrosse coach Missy Doherty and Lehigh head women's lacrosse coach Jill Redfern as people who have made a difference in her life. If she wasn't a lacrosse player, O'Donnell would pursue a career as a chef or librarian. She also competed in field hockey and swimming as a child and played the piano. The reason she wears No. 9 is because her brother, Johnny, wore it during his college football career.
2023 Season: O'Donnell earned 12th place in the final league standings after accumulating 1,069 leaderboard points. She ranked third in the league with 895 win points and was a starter in all 12 games. During those games, she managed to score 15 goals and provide three assists. Additionally, O'Donnell collected 21 ground balls, eight draw controls, and caused eight turnovers. She also achieved five multi-goal efforts and was able to score at least one goal in 10 out of the 12 games, including the final four contests in a row. Furthermore, she had a standout performance in Week Three against Team Glynn, where she netted two goals with an assist. O'Donnell’s impressive season also included fashioning 100 or more leaderboard points in six games, with a season-high of 155 points against Team Colson in the Week Two opener.
2022 Season: O'Donnell started in all 12 games and scored 1,048 leaderboard points. She recorded 14 goals and one assist, with her standout performance being a four-goal effort against Team Moreno. She also scored two goals in a game three times, including back-to-back outings in Week Two. O'Donnell scored at least one goal in six of the first eight games and caused four turnovers against Team Johansen in the Week Three finale.
2021 Season: O'Donnell finished with 1,097 leaderboard points, achieving six games with 100 or more points. She scored eight goals and provided one assist in 15 games. She also contributed 17 draw controls and 12 ground balls. Her highest-scoring game was against Team Benson, where she scored two goals and caused two turnovers, earning her 155 leaderboard points. She collected 131 leaderboard points against Team Arsenault and scored two goals against Team Read. O'Donnell finished the season strong by scoring a goal in three consecutive games. She was one of four players selected as a captain during the inaugural week of play and made the first-ever pick in an Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse weekly draft.
International Experience: O'Donnell made her debut with the United States Senior National Team at the 2018 Fall Classic and is currently a member of the training team for Team USA's 2022 World Championship squad.
Other Professional Experience: O'Donnell played for the New England Command in the Women's Professional Lacrosse League for two seasons. She was selected as the No. 4 overall pick in the 2018 WPLL Draft by New England and scored six goals with five draw controls during the 2019 campaign.
At Penn State: O'Donnell appeared in 83 games for the Nittany Lions from 2015-2018. She scored 203 career goals and provided 24 assists. Additionally, she tallied 119 ground balls, 91 draw controls, and 64 caused turnovers. She ranks sixth on Penn State's career list with 227 points and is one of four players in program history with 200 or more career goals. O'Donnell received two IWLCA All-America honors, including First-Team status as a senior. She was also a two-time First-Team IWLCA All-Region selection and received All-Big Ten commendations three times. In 2018, she was named the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year and finished 13th in the nation with 65 goals during her junior year.