🏆️ Alyssa Long: Winner.

usalacrosse.com

Playing one college sport is hard, playing two is even harder, but winning in both? Unreal. Some say that certain athletes are just better winners than others, they bring the positive winning energy, juju, good vibes, whatever it may be, to wherever they go. That’s the case with Alyssa Long, an All-American lacrosse player who’s now living out her hoops dreams.

When Alyssa Long finished her lacrosse career at the University of North Carolina, she had plenty of high-level accolades to look back on. A four-year contributor, third-team All-American, and a 2022 National Champion. For many, that would be an incredible way to walk away from college athletics and into the next part of their life. Whether that may be a job, more school, professional athletics, or any other typical next step. But Alyssa Long is anything but typical.

When Alyssa officially left Carolina Blue, she took about a month off. But that was just about all she could take of not being a part of a team. So, with some eligibility remaining and the desire to get a graduate degree, Alyssa got to looking. But not for lacrosse, for basketball. A four-year player at her high school and two-time captain, basketball was Long’s first love. A Division one education, scholarship, and experience, drew her to lacrosse as time went on, but basketball was always in her heart and on her mind.

Pat Spencer, an All-American lacrosse player at Notre Dame who transferred as a grad student to play basketball at Northwestern, was her inspiration. If he could do it, why couldn’t she?

In steps Immaculata University. Alyssa’s brother attended the grad program in education there, the same program she was looking for. So she hopped on the phone with head basketball coach Brittany Whalen, and soon thereafter, she was a college basketball player. Immaculata competes at the Division Three level in the Atlantic East Conference. One of their primary colors? Carolina Blue.

Long has been coming off the bench this season, averaging just about 20 minutes per game, but provides high-energy defense and rebounding off the bench. Immaculata went a perfect 10-0 this season in conference play and finished with an overall record of 22-3. They did not lose a game at home all season long.

Alyssa and Immaculate brought home the Atlantic East Tournament Championship this week, and earned an automatic bid into the Division Three NCAA Tournament. No matter where she goes, she wins.

Division three, or Division one. It doesn’t matter. To change sports in the blink of an eye is beyond impressive. What’s even more impressive is how she adapted to a different role. Going from a D1 starter and All-American in one sport to a D3 role player cannot be an easy transition. That tells you how great of a teammate she must be.

We’ll continue to follow Alyssa and her Immaculata team’s run in the tournament.

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