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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Erin McMunn: From the Backyard to the National Field
October 26, 2014 | Women's Lacrosse
Last Saturday Erin McMunn found herself in a situation in which she never thought she would find herself. She wasn't wearing her Princeton No. 20 jersey when the Tigers took the field at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium for a fall lacrosse tournament. Instead she was in her USA lacrosse uniform, playing against her own team.
It was a surreal experience for the little girl who wasn't even interested in playing lacrosse when her mother, Gretchin, tried to engage her eldest daughter in the sport in suburban Baltimore.
Now she is on the US Women's Lacrosse National Team.
McMunn has international experience under her belt already. She was a member of the Under-19 team that won the 2011 World Championship in Germany the summer before she arrived at Princeton.
She has followed that up with an incredible collegiate career, and it isn't over yet.
“I've had some very lucky experiences,” a humble McMunn said.
She thanks her mom first and foremost for getting her into the sport at age 8.
“We had just moved to our new house. It was a new community, and she was really excited about the sport and saw it as an opportunity for my sister and me to get involved at a new place. She had to force me to try playing,” she laughed. “I was a stubborn kid and just didn't want to do it.”
McMunn eventually relented to playing catch in the back yard and the rest is history.
It was her coach at Winters Mill High School, Courtney Vaughn, who made her realize Princeton was a possibility. It was after her first few games as a freshman on the varsity team that Vaughn approached McMunn to ask her if she had ever thought about going to Princeton.
“I laughed,” she said. “I thought 'I'm never going to get in there.' But it was enough to plant a seed in my head. So after my sophomore summer, once coaches can start contacting you, I heard from [Princeton head coach] Chris Sailer and thought, 'maybe this really can happen.'
“I came up here and got to know the team and the coaches and got a feel for the school. And I kind of fell in love with it. It was just right in every way. In terms of academics and athletics, the opportunities that it offered for personal growth, professional growth, eventually. It seemed like it fit so well. I didn't want to be in the city and I needed to be further away from home than 45 minutes. I needed that space to be able to grow in the ways I needed to grow.”
As a freshman McMunn had a hard time adjusting to Princeton. With some homesickness setting in, she needed to convince herself that Princeton was the right place for her.
“In the back of my mind, I knew it was the right place. It was just easier for me to say 'this isn't right' then to get over being afraid of something new.”
It was Sailer who convinced McMunn she was right and showed her she wasn't just a National Hall of Fame coach, but a hall of fame friend.
“Chris was so great about pulling me into her office and letting me know her doors were always open and talking to me as a person and not as an athlete,” McMunn says. “She was so supportive of the fact that I was having a tough time and was more worried about having me figure myself out personally than she was about my performance on the field. From that moment I knew how special a place this was, and how special a coaching staff we have. Chris really does care about her players as people and she understands we want to have a really competitive program. We're going to push ourselves and we're going be at that top level, but there's that personal growth side of it too that college is so important for and she appreciates that and understands that. I've been incredibly lucky with the support that I think all Princeton students have here, and athletes in particular. There is a great community, great teams and great coaches.”
That spring McMunn was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. Since then she has twice been on the Tewaaraton Trophy watch list, has earned second- and third-team All-America honors, two first-team all-region accolades and has been All-Ivy every year, including earning another major league award, capturing the 2013 Attacker of the Year honor.
When asked when she knew she was a 'pretty good lacrosse player' she laughs and says, “it's still an on-going process.”
A feeder as a freshman, she had more assists than a Princeton freshmen has ever had with 30, while also adding 18 goals. She found more confidence to go to the cage her sophomore year and led the team in goals with 40 while adding 29 assists. As a junior she had more of a target on her back but still led the team in scoring with 57 points and 44 goals.
Confidence seems to be an area of focus for McMunn as she enters her final year as a Tiger.
“The most important thing for any athlete in any sport, is being confident in yourself and being confident in being able to play and being able to play just for you. And not worrying about what your coach thinks, or mom and dad think, but finding it within yourself the reasons you love to play.
“My high school coach was the first person who pulled me aside. I was a shy, timid kid and a freshman on the varsity team. She pulled me aside and said 'don't worry about anything else, just play. Find your confidence, play because you love it and don't worry about anything else.' I still so vividly remember that moment. It was a transformational moment for me. Not just with lacrosse but academics, social life, everything.”
Entering her senior year as the top-returning scorer, with numerous records and awards to go along with it, there are expectations and new challenges.
“It is a learning experience to feel that pressure. It's important to have it help you perform and not let it be something you internalize and have it become counterproductive. I just have to play and forget about everything else. I understand that about myself now, and how I respond to that, and I'm self-aware enough to know that it shouldn't take me out of my game or should frustrate me. Just focus on the things I can control, focus on doing the little things right and competing with my team and love playing.”
As much as she wants to enjoy the time she has left at Princeton, she can't wait for lacrosse season to get here.
“The goal for us is to take it as far as we can take it. We set very high goals for ourselves; we want to be an NCAA national champion, and there's no reason that we can't be. And we want to win the regular-season Ivy, we want to host the tournament, we want to win the tournament and get that automatic bid and then we want to take it as far as we can possibly take it. The really exciting thing about this year is that I don't think anyone doubts that we can do that. From our coaches, to our seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen, whoever is touching the program. People believe that we can get there and I think that's the biggest, most critical step in actually getting there is having your whole team buy in.”
Princeton is coming off of a season in which it won the Ivy League regular-season title and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Everything about Princeton has ended up fitting perfectly. I've loved it. It's the best choice I've ever made in my life. I'm very grateful that it has worked out. The experiences I've had here are going to be something I'll be able to take with me the rest of my life. It's empowering and will push me to be the best I can be, in anything I do.”