Northwestern lacrosse’s transfer roundup for the 2026 season

The Wildcats bring in arguably their most stacked transfer class yet.

Northwestern lacrosse has brought in impactful transfer classes in the past. In 2023, graduate students Molly Laliberty and Hailey Rhatigan were crucial pieces of the Wildcats’ national championship-winning squad. In 2025, NU brought in its largest transfer class ever to remain in the upper echelon of women’s lacrosse. But perhaps no previous transfer class in program history is as stacked as what Northwestern will bring in for the 2026 season.

The 2026 transfer class comprises players with All-American accolades, national team experience and NCAA-topping statistics. After losing important contributors on all ends of the field from 2025, these new additions — all with one year of eligibility left — could be the difference between contending for a national title or missing the Final Four for the first time since 2018.

Notably, the announcement of these transfers came at an astounding pace. Maddie Epke’s transfer to Northwestern was revealed on June 2, while ILWomen reported Annabel Child and Jennika Cuocco’s transfers on June 11. Northwestern lacrosse officially confirmed Olivia Adamson’s (and everyone else’s) transfer on July 1. By contrast, the programs announced Laliberty and Rhatigan as additions on September 20, 2022, while knowledge of transfers from 2024 and 2025 was first made public around July before the season started.

Transfer moves are often open secrets in lacrosse circles well before they are made public, so the significance of “official” announcements may not mean anything. Still, it’s worth noting how much quicker Northwestern’s additions were revealed compared to previous seasons.

In this article, Inside NU breaks down what each new Wildcat can bring to The Lake Show.

Maddie Epke — James Madison

As arguably the biggest name in the transfer portal, there has already been some coverage at Inside NU on how Epke can impact Northwestern. The 2025 IWLCA first-team All-American and Tewaaraton top 25 nominee is a double-edged sword, dangerous on both the draw and attack. Those abilities helped James Madison to an American Athletic Conference championship sweep, and they will be coming to Evanston for one more season.

• See also: What does the addition of Maddie Epke mean for Northwestern lacrosse?

After losing three-year starting draw taker Sam Smith, Northwestern bringing in the player ranked second in the nation for draws per game (12.37) in 2025 is a more-than-perfect solution. With Epke, an area that would have been a huge question mark for NU in 2026 has an immediate answer.

With 65 goals and 28 assists in 2025, Epke will be a strong option on the attack alongside her former Team USA U20 teammate and two-time Tewaaraton finalist Madison Taylor. But solely labeling Epke as an “option” doesn’t do her justice. She has experience as the primary weapon, too, leading JMU in points last season. In addition, she brings a deep offensive toolkit with great sidearm/backhand shots, nifty movement and the ability to shoot from the eight-meter hash at any given moment. In some ways, her game is very different from Taylor’s, so both of them should have the ability to take over games when they need to.

Olivia Adamson — Syracuse

After a lack of depth on the attack was Northwestern’s biggest weakness in 2025, Kelly Amonte Hiller made extra sure that it wouldn’t be an issue in 2026 with the acquisition of not just Epke but also Adamson. One could argue that those two were the best attack options in the portal this offseason, with only Boston College transfer Marissa White (who recorded 49 goals for North Carolina in 2025) matching them in terms of experience and aptitude.

There should be no concern about Adamson adjusting to Northwestern’s level of competition. She started on both Syracuse’s 2023 and 2024 Final Four teams — in her junior 2024 season, she recorded a team-high 58 goals alongside 25 assists en route to IWLCA third-team All-American honors. In that same season, she scored a career-high six goals against the then-No. 1 ranked Northwestern, which should give one a sense of how she fares against top competition.

Adamson only played the first three games of her senior 2025 season, which got cut short due to a lower-body injury. She’ll come into 2026 rusty, but there’s still tremendous upside to her offensive game, ranging from behind-the-back to shovel shots. She also led Syracuse with 107 draw control wins in 2023, so she can be used in the circle if needed as well. Amonte Hiller said in a Northwestern press release that Adamson has an “ability to make those around her better,” which will be a major benefit to NU if that ability comes to fruition in Evanston.

Annabel Child — Harvard

After losing Sammy White, Jane Hansen and Grace Fujinaga, Northwestern needed to find replacements on defense. It did just that with Child, a first-team All-Ivy League selection who recorded 34 ground balls and 24 caused turnovers in 2025 for a Harvard team that narrowly missed the NCAA tournament. She can go past the restraining line as well, recording six goals and two assists on the year — there’s a reason why Amonte Hiller praised her versatility.

Perhaps the biggest aspect that stands out about Child is her experience. She started in all but two games of her career — for context, Mary Carroll, Sammy White and Madison Taylor were the only three players on Northwestern’s roster last season who got consistent starting minutes as freshmen. She’s also been competing for the Canadian senior national team since 2021, winning a silver medal with them at the 2022 World Lacrosse Women’s World Cup. Most recently, she played for Canada’s silver medal team at the 2025 Pan-American Championships in June, having to defend against star-studded American attackers like Izzy Scane and Charlotte North in the gold medal game.

Next season, Child will join Carroll as one of the two Northwestern defenders with actual starting experience. There will still be many gaps that need to be filled in the backfield (though incoming freshman Mckenzie Brown, ILWomen’s No. 6 overall recruit for the high school class of 2025, is an intriguing prospect), but getting Child is a huge start.

Jenika Cuocco — Drexel

For the fourth consecutive season, Northwestern will be playing with a transfer goalie. This time, it will be Cuocco, who is coming off her third consecutive CAA Goalie of the Year honor at Drexel. She previously entered the transfer portal in 2024 but chose to stay in Philadelphia; a year later, she made the move to Evanston.

Cuocco brings with her a .493 save percentage and 178 saves from last season. But her standout year was 2024, when she led the nation in save percentage (.569) and total saves (224) and earned third-team IWLCA All-American honors. For an idea of whether she can fare as well against elevated competition, look no further than her stats against then-No. 5 Maryland in February 2024, a game where she recorded a whopping 18 saves.

Similar to Cuocco, Northwestern’s 2025 starter Delaney Sweitzer came to Evanston after having her best-ever season two years prior. Sweitzer proved to be a solid option before raising her levels significantly in the national title game, recording a Northwestern single-game record of 17 saves to prove that her 2023 IWLCA Goalie of the Year honor wasn’t a fluke. If Cuocco can have a similar type of season, it will be just good enough.