Guilford native Maddie Epke was one of the top lacrosse players in the state of Connecticut coming out of high school in 2022. She played for the Guilford Grizzlies from 2019 to 2022 and had an illustrious career in lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey.

Now, Maddie is making an impact on the James Madison University (JMU) Duke Dogs lacrosse team and had a solid freshman season. In her first season playing Division I lacrosse, she finished with 17 goals, 28 assists, 72 draw controls, 14 ground balls, and caused seven turnovers.

Recently, Maddie was named to the USA Lacrosse U20 team. Being named to the team was a big accomplishment for Maddie, who felt like all of her hard work was noticed by making the team.

“When I heard my name called at tryouts when I was selected for the training team, I felt so much joy and relief because I knew my hard work had finally paid off and been noticed,” says Maddie. “I additionally felt like I gave my all at the tryout, so knowing I got rewarded was unreal.”

Not only was she selected to the team, Maddie made a huge impact in Team USA’s two victories over Canada and Northwestern University.

In the team’s 16-9 victory over Canada, Maddie had 10 draw controls. In their close 13-12 victory over Northwestern, she recorded two goals, two assists, two ground balls, and two draw controls.

Maddie came up big in the Northwestern game as she scored the game-tying goal with 2:51 remaining in the game and assisted on She Baker’s game-winning goal with 1:19 left in the game. As a result of her big impact, she was awarded MVP.

Maddie says that being a part of Team USA and helping contribute to both of their wins was a weekend she will never forget.

“Representing the USA and getting to be a part of this amazing program is such an honor and to earn the MVP award of the Northwestern game was like a dream,” says Maddie. “There were so many teammates who contributed to this win, and it was unreal to be out there playing with some of the best players in the country. That weekend was one I’ll never forget!”

Maddie played three seasons of lacrosse during her high school career at Guilford, as she had the 2020 season off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She also played four years of ice hockey and field hockey.

Throughout her high school career, she was three-time All-SCC First Team, two-time SCC Player of the Year, two-time All-American, and All-State First Team in lacrosse. For ice hockey, she was four-time All-SCC First Team, four-time All-State First Team, and three-time SCC Player of the Year. In field hockey, she was three-time All-SCC First Team, three-time All-State First-Team, SCC Player of the Year, CT State Player of the Year, and Regional All-American.

With such an accomplished high-school career, Maddie had drawn interest from multiple schools, but chose JMU because of the passion she felt from talking to the coaches and players.

Heading into her freshman season, she made the transition from midfielder to attacker. Head Coach Shelley Klaes says that she asked Maddie to switch positions and that Maddie handled the challenge very well.

“Maddie was just really willing to do whatever the team needed, and we identified the need for somebody to come in and play crease offense, and that wasn’t Maddie’s position,” says Klaes. “Maddie was a midfielder who generally attacked from the top of the cage, and I felt like with her hockey background and some of the play action I had noticed in high school, I felt like she could play with her back to the net. I felt like she had good protection skills.”

“I called her in August and asked her if she’d be willing to switch positions for us. She did a great job. She and her mom [her mom being her high school coach] just went out to the fields and started getting reps in, attacking the goal from behind, and it was seamless. She came in right out of the gate, we put her in that position, and she had so much confidence.”

For Maddie, she says that the biggest transition from high school to college was the speed and skill of the older athletes.

“The speed of the game and skill level of the athletes were the biggest differences,” said Maddie. “I enjoyed getting into this super-fast play and working hard on my stick skills to keep up with the older girls.”

As Maddie heads into her sophomore season at JMU this spring, Klaes says that the sky is the limit for Maddie and that she’s starting to utilize more of her skill set now.

“The sky’s the limit for Maddie. She hasn’t even tapped into what she’s capable of yet,” says Klaes. “We’re already noticing from last year to this year. She’s just way more decisive. She was really more of a feeder for us last year, but this year she seems to be attacking gaps way faster. She is unbelievably explosive and we’re noticing her utilizing that skill set now.”

Klaes was proud of Maddie for how she represented herself and JMU during her time on Team USA and wasn’t surprised to see her have a big role in their two victories.

“It’s something that we see in our practices, so for her to be able to carry that over to Team USA, I think it’s a testament to her work rate and her adaptability,” Klaes says. “I love that Team USA has tapped into that and it gives her so much confidence. She’s a gem as far as her personality and coaches and players want to be around her.”