Building the Pitt Program: Riley Patrick

PITTSBURGH – Getting her first lacrosse stick at three years old, Riley Patrick has always had a passion for the sport. Since her dad and older sister both grew up playing lacrosse, she always knew she wanted to pursue a competitive collegiate lacrosse career. When her dream school finally added a team, she couldn't wait to become a part of the history.

"I've always had lacrosse as a big part of my life, so I always thought I would continue in college," Patrick said. "I started playing club in fifth grade so it was never a question of if I would play in college, but where."

Intending to study computational biology, Patrick knew she needed to find a university that would be able to offer her support on and off the field while taking such a rigorous course load.

"Pitt was one of my top colleges before they added a team," she said. "My parents wanted me to pick the best school for me academically and everything else, not just for lacrosse. I had a list of colleges that were non-lacrosse schools and Pitt was number one on that list. When they announced they would have a team, I was so excited because I thought it was the perfect fit."

After her time at Pitt eventually comes to an end, Patrick hopes to earn a master's degree in order to become a research scientist where she will be able to develop software and research technology for scientists.

"I love science and that's always been my passion," Patrick said. "I needed to go to a school with programs that are right for me and has a coach that will support me in my academic goals, as well. Coach Emily Boissonneault is a big academic supporter and an amazing coach," she said. "Not all schools have that, which is very important to me."

The summer after her junior year of high school, Patrick learned Pitt would be adding a varsity program. When Boissonneault was named head coach, Patrick reached out immediately to see if should could earn a spot on the team.

"I knew Coach Emily because a few years ago she had invited me on an unofficial visit at James Madison, so when it was announced she would be the head coach I reached out to see if she remembered me," Patrick said. "I told her that I was really interested in Pitt and she was able to come to my last tournament to watch me play last fall. It was just perfect, and everything fell into place."

The idea of building a lacrosse program always seemed to interest Patrick. Her freshman year of high school, another university was recruiting players from her club team, Sky Walker, to help build their very first varsity lacrosse program. Although Patrick was too young to be considered at the time, she knew she would have loved to be the first team at any school.

"Years ago, another college began building a lacrosse program and I remember the coaches talking to my dad at one of my club practices and I thought the idea of building a new program sounded so cool," Patrick said. "So, having the opportunity come up at Pitt is amazing. Everything we do is history and we want to build an amazing team. I know that right off the bat we are going to be really strong together because we have a group of really amazing group of girls."

Along with the challenges that come with being the first team, the Pitt lacrosse team will also compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the toughest leagues in the NCAA. The top-tier competition to come made Patrick even more enthusiastic to begin her lacrosse journey at Pitt.

"I'm super excited because I am really competitive," she said. "Even though I know so many ACC teams will be a huge challenge, it's just even more of a reason to work harder before we get to school, once we step on campus, and to push each other this year before we have games and the real competition starts. We know who we will be up against and we're going to push ourselves to take on that competition and be better than them."

This competition, Patrick hopes, will also bring the team closer as they prepare to begin playing in 2021.

"The team dynamic of having close friends that are like family supporting you is so important to me. I've been on teams my whole life and they've always been my closest friends and the people that have supported me through everything," Patrick said. "I do my best to reach out to my teammates as much as possible because I really want to get to know them now and even more when we get together on campus. Being able to have that competitiveness and people around me pushing to achieve my athletic goals and then also being able to achieve my academic goals will be very beneficial to me."

Feeling confident she made the right decision, Patrick is eager to step foot on campus and begin training with her new teammates and start making their mark in the Pitt history books.

"I am just excited to start beating teams and winning titles," she said. "That is what we are going to do. People aren't going to be expecting us to come out as strong as we are. We are going to surprise a lot of people coming out as strong as possible even as a new program," she added. "This is going to be an amazing experience for me, and I can't wait to start working with the coaches and my teammates to see what we can really do."

#H2P | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Building the Pitt Program: Riley Patrick

Players Mentioned

Riley Patrick

Related Videos