Oak Forest Resident, Marian Catholic Grad Conway Transforms from Lacrosse Newbie to College Athlete

Peer pressure often is seen as having negative effects on high school students. But for Oak Forest resident and Marian Catholic grad Hannah Conway, it led her to a new sport and a college scholarship.

Three years ago, lacrosse was non-existent in Conway’s personal sports world. She had participated in most of the mainstream sports in grammar school and was focused on playing volleyball at Marian Catholic.

A couple friends asked Conway to play lacrosse--a relatively new sport at the high school–and Conway agreed to try it, figuring it was a good way to stay in shape.

“I liked being active, but it was still something I was learning and I picked it up fast,” said Conway, who played on the JV team as a freshman. “I played with a lot of juniors and seniors, and it kind of pushed me to be better. That made me want to keep playing.”

Conway will get her chance to continue her career past high school. She recently accepted a scholarship to Notre Dame College in Ohio.

“I think Hannah chose Notre Dame’s program because she wanted an established program and didn’t want to take the chance on a rebuilding program,” said Joe Conway, Hannah’s father.

Lacrosse was not only new to Hannah, but the entire Conway family. As a sport primarily played on the East Coast, neither of Hannah’s parents nor her older sister or younger brother had any experience with lacrosse. 

But Hannah took a liking to the fast-paced game and started attending summer camps and playing for club teams outside of school. She developed into an attack-oriented midfielder who used her overall athleticism to control the game.

Conway helped set a high standard in Marian Catholic’s first four years of girls lacrosse as a varsity sport. In her three years on the varsity squad, Hannah tallied 108 goals and 45 assists, good for second all-time in each category behind teammate Emma Terrazas.

“The level of competition on the team improved,” Hannah said. “You had a lot more girls who weren’t just playing to keep in shape; they were playing because they loved lacrosse. I was playing with five or six other club players.”

Hannah’s senior season ended with a disappointing loss to Mother McAuley in the sectional semifinals, but her skills had developed to the point where she was attracting offers to play in college. Although she originally signed on with Adrian College (Mich.), a coaching change in January shifted her to Winthrop University, before she finally settled on Notre Dame College in Ohio.

“I’ve lost a lot of sleep this whole summer,” Hannah said. “One week I was filling out a math placement test for Winthrop, the next week I’m figuring out my roommates for Notre Dame, and I have my roommate from Adrian calling me.”

Her transformation from a lacrosse beginner to scholarship athlete is astounding. It’s virtually impossible to do in the more mainstream sports of softball, volleyball or soccer.

But it was possible with her passion for the sport, which is shown further by her experience as a lacrosse official and a coach for fifth- and sixth-graders through the Illinois Girls Lacrosse Association.

“Lacrosse was a big surprise for us,” said Jennifer Conway, Hannah’s mother. “With all the sports she played at the grammar school level … it just never factored in.”

And now it’s one of the biggest elements of Hannah’s life.

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