Marie McCool

Personal: McCool's hobbies include traveling and exploring new places. She was named as an assistant women’s lacrosse coach at North Carolina on August 23, 2022. Her older sister, Erika, played lacrosse at Oregon from 2011-14. McCool also serves as an Associate Board Member of Harlem Lacrosse, a non-profit organization that empowers students to rise above their challenges and reach their full potential. She has two dogs named Maisie and Penny. McCool lists North Carolina head women’s lacrosse coach Jenny Levy as a person who has made a difference in her life. In addition to lacrosse, McCool also competed in soccer, basketball, and field hockey as a child. Her hobbies include traveling and exploring new places and finding new restaurants and food places, as she describes herself as a huge foodie. Furthermore, McCool has worn No. 4 during her entire playing career.

2023 Season: McCool closed the third Athletes Unlimited Pro Lacrosse season with a seventh place finish after accumulating 1,192 leaderboard points. She tied with Kady Glynn for fourth in the league with 165 MVP points and held a share of third place in the circuit with five Game MVP honors. McCool became the fifth player in league history to earn Game MVP distinction in four consecutive games, achieving this feat from July 30 to August 6. She scored 20 goals over 12 games, tying with Lauren Gilbert for fourth in the league. McCool managed to score at least one goal in 11 out of the 12 games, including the final eight contests in a row. She also shared fourth place in the league rankings with Sam Geiersbach after notching 27 points. Furthermore, she tied for fifth in the circuit with seven assists. Notably, McCool scored two goals with one assist and five draw controls against Team Mastroianni on July 22 to earn MVP 2 honors. She closed Week Two with an MVP 1 performance against Team Read, netting three goals with two ground balls and three draw controls. She also earned Game MVP notices in all three contests during Week Three. In addition, McCool claimed MVP 3 commendation after contributing two goals with an assist against Team Moreno. She was also the MVP 2 selection against Team Apuzzo on August 5 following a three-goal, two-assist effort. McCool concluded Week Three with a strong performance, scoring three goals with an assist against Team Glynn to earn MVP 1 honors. She authored seven games with 100 or more leaderboard points, including six of the final seven outings.

2022 Season: McCool started in all 12 games and earned 994 leaderboard points. She tied for ninth in the league with 334 stat points. McCool had four games with 100 or more leaderboard points, including all three contests during Week Four. Her highest scoring game was against Team Apuzzo, where she earned 145 leaderboard points. Throughout the season, McCool scored 13 goals, including a two-pointer, and had nine assists. She led the league with 49 draw controls and tied for the lead with 33 ground balls. McCool scored two goals in a game five times, with four of those occurring in the first five games. She also had a season-high three assists and nine draw controls in the Week Four opener against Team Glynn. McCool collected 13 caused turnovers, including three in the Week One finale against Team Apuzzo.

2021 Season: McCool accumulated 1,517 leaderboard points. She posted 100 or more points in a game eight times, with five of those occurring in the final seven outings. McCool ranked fifth in the league with 452 stat points and had 49 draw controls, the second-highest total in the league. She scored 28 goals, including two two-point goals, and had 11 assists in 11 games. McCool scored at least one goal in 14 out of 15 games, including the first 10 outings in a row. She ranked second in Athletes Unlimited with 10 multi-goal performances, including four hat tricks. McCool registered a pair of five-point efforts. She scored three goals with two assists against Team O'Donnell on July 25 and repeated the same performance against Team Glynn on August 16. McCool had a season-high four caused turnovers in the season opener against Team Ohlmiller and earned a season-high 173 leaderboard points against Team Ohlmiller on August 20 with three goals, two ground balls, two draw controls, and a caused turnover.

International Experience: McCool tied for seventh in Team USA history with 32 career goals at the World Lacrosse Women's World Championship. McCool represented Team USA at the 2022 World Lacrosse Women's World Championship and was selected for the All-World Team. She ranked second on the team with 20 goals and contributed 17 draw controls. McCool had five hat tricks in eight games, including a four-goal performance against Australia. She also played for the Gold medal-winning Team USA at the 2017 World Cup, where she was one of only two collegiate players on the roster. McCool tied for fifth on the team with 12 goals in eight appearances and added nine ground balls with six caused turnovers. She also scored four goals in four games to help Team USA win the World Games championship in Poland.

Other Professional Experience: McCool was the No. 2 overall selection in the inaugural Women's Professional Lacrosse League Draft. She was a two-time selection to the WPLL All-Star Team while playing with the Baltimore Brave and was honored as the 2018 WPLL Most Valuable Player. In 2019, McCool scored 14 goals with three assists and 32 draw controls, leading Baltimore to the WPLL title.

At North Carolina: McCool was a four-year letter winner at the University of North Carolina. She started 73 out of 85 games from 2015-2018. McCool tallied 183 career goals with 63 assists for the Tar Heels. She was one of two players in North Carolina history to be named as a Tewaaraton Award finalist twice and a two-time finalist for the Honda Award for Lacrosse. McCool was a three-time IWLCA All-America selection and was named the 2018 IWLCA National Midfielder of the Year. She also received All-America distinction from Inside Lacrosse twice. McCool was a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Midfielder of the Year and earned All-ACC recognition three times. She was the Most Valuable Player at the 2016 ACC Tournament and was named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team in 2016 and 2018. McCool was honored as the 2017 ACC Women's Lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year and received the 2018 Patterson Medal as North Carolina's top student-athlete. She is fifth on North Carolina's career goals and points lists and ninth on the Tar Heels' career assist ledger. McCool tallied 61 goals and 84 points as a senior, which are the eighth-highest marks at North Carolina. She also set the North Carolina single-season record with 165 draw controls as a senior.