Acacia Walker is no stranger to winning championships. Her lacrosse career has been marked by success at every level, from playing to coaching. But if all goes to plan on Sunday morning, Boston College lacrosse will defeat the University of Maryland in the national championship, giving Walker her first national title as a head coach.
Walker has represented the United States for years. She won a gold medal for Team USA at the U-19 World Championship in 1999. Even after graduating from college, she played for the national team until 2012. During her time in red, white, and blue, Walker won another gold medal in 2009.
For her college career, Walker chose a national lacrosse powerhouse—Maryland. She went on to College Park, where she played all four years and captained the Terps as a senior. During her junior and senior seasons, her accolades warranted her being named a Tewaaraton finalist.
Although Walker failed to capture an NCAA title as an athlete, she quickly earned a couple of titles as an assistant coach of Northwestern University. For three years, Walker served as an assistant coach for the Wildcats, helping the team during its run of three-consecutive national titles.
After departing Northwestern, Walker took a job with the University of Massachusetts before arriving at The Heights in 2011. For two years, she served as the team’s associate head coach before being named head coach in May 2012, almost exactly five years before she would lead her Eagles to the national championship game.
After never having qualified before her time on the Heights, BC has only missed out on the NCAA Tournament once during Walker’s tenure with the team, and has qualified for the tournament every year since she was named head coach. Even so, the Eagles have never advanced as far as the championship until 2017.
This season, Walker coached the Eagles to a 12-5 regular season record. On April 22, with a BC victory over the University of Notre Dame, Walker became the winningest head coach in program history, with 65.
Featured Image by Amelie Trieu / Heights Editor
