Lindsey McKone (’16) was named an All-American by Inside Lacrosse, the largest lacrosse news publication in America, for the 2020 season in March. Writers and reporters voted on “the best athletes of the year,” according to Inside Lacrosse’s website. McKone was one of only nine midfielders selected.

In her final season at Northwestern, the Wildcats reached the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, dropping their final game to Syracuse. In the quarterfinals against Duke, McKone had two goals and two assists in the 22-10 victory over the Blue Devils. 

McKone ended her final season at Northwestern in May with 27 goals and 17 assists in 16 games. She is now in the running for the National Team, which consists of 18 players that will represent the U.S. in international competition.

Of the 60 players invited to try out, 32 were selected for the second phase, a training camp. McKone made the first cut and was also invited to another training camp for the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. According to McKone, the final team rosters will be announced in January.

McKone, 23, started playing in seventh grade to stay in shape for her main sport, soccer. She fell in love with lacrosse the next year when she joined a club team, the Texas Rangers.

“The girls I played with showed me what it meant to be a team and pushed me to be the best player I could be,” McKone said. “That’s when I decided that I want to play lacrosse in college.”

McKone also played basketball, field hockey and soccer during her time at SJS and said that practicing for each sport helped her improve in the others.

Whenever she had free time, McKone “constantly had a stick in her hand” as an Upper School student, and she spent every Sunday playing wall ball and shooting with friends at Caven Field.

“My friends and I were always first on the field, last to leave,” she said. “I’ve always wanted my team to be successful, so I push myself that much harder. They motivate me way more than I motivate myself.”

After graduating from St. John’s, McKone attended Northwestern University where she majored in Communications and minored in Spanish and Business Institutions. She is now working on her master’s degree in Data Science. Her fascination with marketing and the quality of Northwestern’s Communications department led to her switch from a pre-med track.

“When I was a freshman at Northwestern, I wanted to be a doctor,” she said. “But I took my first midterm, did terribly, and decided I was going to do anything else.”

McKone will be applying her studies as a business analyst at Parity Evolution in Sport, a startup that helps female athletes secure sponsorships. She moved to New York for the job in September.

“I don’t know what my future in lacrosse will look like,” McKone said. “But as I phase out of my college lacrosse life, I’m excited to do something so important to me. I love that I am a part of a company that is actively helping to bridge the sponsorship gap between male and women athletes.”

Last year, McKone joined a program called Athlete Causes. As part of the program, The Give Lively Foundation matched 50 percent of McKone’s season bonus in donations to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a charity that supports children with brain cancer. The charity is close to her heart because her brother Will passed away from brain cancer in 2019.

“It was an honor to be able to give back to something that means so much to me and my family,” McKone said. “It’s definitely a message that I support and want to play for.”

McKone’s teammates were a constant source of support for her at St. John’s. After Will withdrew from school because of an inoperable brain tumor, he and Lindsey designed shirts that read “Where there’s a Will, there’s a way” and donated thousands of dollars to A Kids’ Brain Tumor Cure Foundation. After his death, the Mavs lacrosse team wore the shirts before every game to support the McKones.

“We thought only our friends and family would buy them,” she said. “To be able to do that with Will, and to have so many people buy it and help out, was so special.”

McKone also found a supportive community in her Northwestern team. After Will died, all her teammates came to Will’s memorial service in Houston.

“Northwestern Athletics paid for my entire team to come,” McKone said. “I didn’t ask them to, which made it really meaningful that they went out of their way to make a tragic day a little bit better. They were and still are my second family.”