By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A record setting goalkeeper for Missouri Western women’s lacrosse was a big help in the opening days of the program at the university.
Mackenzie Porter started her collegiate lacrosse career at Division I Rutgers, not playing as a freshman due to injury, and then playing just three games in her redshirt year before the coronavirus pandemic shut the season down.
After the pandemic, Porter entered the transfer portal and says she wasn’t sure what she was going to do
“If that was Division I or Division II, I never thought that I would go Division II, I always had a dream to play Division I lacrosse and that dream came true when I committed my sophomore year of high school to Rutgers,” Porter tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Porter made a decision to come to Western to help start the lacrosse program in 2021, even though many told her she should not go to Division II
“What I would say back to them was God has a plan for me and he’s going to place me where I’m wanted, where I belong, and I’m just going to trust in that honestly,” Porter explains
Porter says despite making the move from Division I to Division II, the competition didn’t change to much
“I do think the level of play, even the conference that I was in, playing against a Lindenwood that year one and the University of Indianapolis, who have won Division II National Championships, I still think the level of play was just as competitive,” Porter says.
Porter played for four years at Western and holds multiple records, including the most saves in a season. She currently coaches high school lacrosse in Kansas City.
Porter says she has seen lacrosse grow since she started in second grade, from many colleges not even having it as a sport, to now there being a professional women’s league.
“It is becoming such a strong women’s sport, where people are just so intrigued by it, and it’s crazy how many more people know about the sport,” Porter says. “Even from when I first came to Missouri Western, in general watching it grow like watching it grow in Kansas City, that’s been something really awesome to just watch because a lot of people didn’t even know what the sport was.”
Porter is hoping to continue helping the game grow locally, launching a new youth program for girls called Mighty Mo Lacrosse.
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