In 2016, Caitlyn Wurzburger became the youngest girls lacrosse recruit in history when she verbally committed to Syracuse as a 14-year-old eighth-grader. That was after her initial varsity season as an attack for the American Heritage School of Boca Delray, in which she surpassed 100 goals and 100 assists for the first of four times. This fall she will enter North Carolina as the No. 1 recruit in her class and the nation’s all-time leading scorer, with 1,027 points (503 goals and 524 assists) in her varsity career.

“Lacrosse is everything to me,” says Caitlyn, 18, who has continued to train after the coronavirus canceled her senior season. “It’s my family because my family played lacrosse. My best friends play lacrosse. With lacrosse, I’ve found my passion and a way for me to make people happy and see myself happy.”

Caitlyn’s father and coach, Rob, was an attack at Maryland who scored the fourth-most goals in school history; her uncle John was a two-time All-America attack at Cornell. She played other sports growing up but focused on lacrosse in middle school when she realized she naturally excelled. After leading the Stallions to the FHSAA state title as a sophomore—in just the program’s fourth year of existence—she decommitted from Syracuse and later signed with the Tar Heels, whose coach, Jenny Levy, also heads up the U.S. women’s national team. (Caitlyn’s original commitment came before the NCAA passed a lacrosse-specific rule eliminating contact with prospects before Sept. 1 of their junior year.)

“[My first commitment] made me better,” says Caitlyn, who won gold at the U-19 world championship. “It made me push even harder every day to be the best that I could be.”