The West Chester lacrosse team’s undefeated run to the D-II national semis is keeping Julia Rossi’s spirit alive

The lacrosse sticks are somewhere. Greg and Kirsten Rossi have lost track. Maybe their daughter Julia’s old sticks are tucked in a corner of the garage of their home in Hamilton Township, N.J., or in the trunk of a car. The couple still finds it difficult to think about. They found it hard this spring to even attend a women’s lacrosse game at West Chester University, where Julia once played.

They remember Julia’s vivacious, life-of-the-room personality. Her raspy Demi Moore voice and magnetic laugh still echo in their heads.

On Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, Julia suddenly died. Her unexpected passing at 22 left a gaping hole not only in her parents’ hearts, but also through the collective soul of the West Chester Golden Rams, the nation’s No. 1 Division II women’s lacrosse team.

At 4 p.m. Friday, Greg and Kirsten expect to be in front of their computer, streaming the Rams’ NCAA national semifinal game against No. 4-seeded Grand Valley State. The winner will play the winner of the Florida Southern-Pace game at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Division II national championship at the University of Indianapolis.

The only undefeated team in Division II women’s lacrosse, the Rams (21-0) have created a bridge-cable bond formed by the loss of their friend — and in the process have eased the ongoing pain of Julia’s parents.

“We didn’t see this coming, which is the hardest thing for us to get by, because we were with her all of the time, and it’s something she hid very well,” Greg said. “We’re fortunate to have such a strong support group around us, and our biggest priorities are our two daughters. The West Chester community, I mean every sports team there, and even individual students who remembered Julia has helped us cope.”

Said Kirsten: “Julia was always there for someone else and always thought about others before herself, and she hid it very well, always laughing, smiling and being positive. No one ever thought she was depressed or sad. No one knew. She was the light in the room who was nice to everyone.

“It is very difficult to deal with the loss of your child, and it’s something that I will probably never get over it, but what her West Chester teammates are doing this year makes us believe that Julia’s spirit is living on through them. I feel like they are celebrating who Julia was, and they’re portraying that.”

Julia was playing with the idea of returning for her fifth year to play with her best friend, Lindsay Monigle, a fifth-year senior who is the Rams’ leading scorer (39 goals, 60 assists). Monigle still has the last text messages from Julia. Monigle is prone to go back over them and laugh. That’s just the way “Rossi,” as Julia liked to be called, was.

“I remember when I first heard about Julia that I thought it was a sick joke, so it was a shock to me,” Monigle said. “I didn’t think it could be true. I had no idea. We always spoke to each other, and on Sunday night [the day before Julia’s death], we were talking about what everyone was doing. Then the next day, I found out.

“It hurts. I still hear her voice. I wouldn’t have come back this year if it wasn’t for what happened. I like to look through our past texts. Rossi could always make me laugh when I read them.”

Right after Julia’s death, Monigle used to go over the texts a few times a day. As the national semifinal nears, she said, she’ll go back over them again for inspiration.

Hannah Stanislawczyk, a three-year starting junior midfielder and the Rams’ second-leading scorer with 86 goals and 12 assists, was in the Rams’ team house when she heard the news about Julia from one of her teammates.

Stanislawczyk said Julia’s death placed a bigger meaning behind this season.

“This season is about more than lacrosse,” Stanislawczyk said. “We’ve been keeping track of the crazy little winks, these connections with Julia. We won our 25th PSAC championship this year, Coach [Ginny] Martino is in her 25th year here — and Julia wore No. 25. We had a dedication game for Julia earlier this season, and we are doing a lot of things in Julia’s memory.

“We want to keep that memory going. We’re playing for her. It helps drive us. We cannot let her down. When we first heard about Julia, we met with a psychologist, and everyone openly talked about their feelings. That was a big help. We learned we could depend on each other on and off the field if anyone needed any help. It really bonded us together.”

The Golden Rams last won a national title in 2008. Martino is the all-time winningest women’s lacrosse coach in NCAA Division II history with 384 victories, along with two national championships (2002, 2008).

She still struggles with what happened to Rossi.

“I’ve never had a situation like this before, and I found the strength through this team,” Martino said. “I’m not going to lie, I still have a tough time dealing with it. It still hurts talking about Julia. You get hit with these emotions and the questions: ‘What could we have done? Why didn’t we see the signs?’

“It’s the same questions we all asked ourselves, and you know you won’t find any answers.

“That’s why this group is such an inspiration. You can’t imagine how these kids have dealt with this. They are all driven and the common thread they have is Rossi. Our hope was to reach the Final Four. You want to think of some great pregame speech. Nothing can be more powerful than anything than remembering Julia to them and how they would never let her down.”

Martino admitted she never saw this team’s success coming. She bulked up the schedule with Division II heavyweights such as defending national champion University of Indianapolis, traditional powerhouse Le Moyne, along with three games against PSAC nemesis East Stroudsburg, which had knocked out the Golden Rams the previous two years in the NCAA quarterfinal round.

The national semifinal is new terrain for Grand Valley State. The Lakers (16-4) just won their first NCAA Tournament game last year. They had to pull off two upsets to reach the Final Four.

The Rams are making their 12th Division II national semifinal appearance.

Goalie Jessica Gorr has started every game and posts a .548 save percentage. Stanislawczyk and Keri Barnett (Archbishop Carroll) arguably are a pair of the best two-way players in the country, Martino believes.

One other thing about this year’s version of the Golden Rams: They seem impervious to pressure. They talk openly among themselves about being the top team in the country, whereas many teams in the standings, regardless of the level, would rather run and hide from that platform.

“We do talk a lot about being No. 1 and what it means to be ranked No. 1, but we also know it really doesn’t matter unless we go out and prove it every time we play,” Monigle said. “We have a good amount of confidence going into this Final Four. Some teams in other sports think too much about being No. 1 and get overconfident. This team rides with being No. 1. We don’t get too confident. We live in the present, and we did a lot of mental toughness training this season. We work on it.”

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One major disadvantage of D-II is that the scouting comes via film, rarely in person unless the teams are in geographic proximity to each other. Stanislawczyk said she knows Grand Valley State runs a zone, like West Chester does. She also stressed that playing the quality of schedule West Chester did this season, coupled with beating East Stroudsburg, last year’s Division II national runner-up, three times, twice by two goals, instills a higher level of confidence.

“That helped us, and that was my 11th time playing East Stroudsburg, and I’m only a junior,” Stanislawczyk said. “Knowing that they run a zone, and we practice against a zone, is exciting for us. We know everyone this weekend will be coming for us. If we stay calm, cool, and collected, we’re going to be OK.

“We may be the No. 1 in the country, we still play with a chip on our shoulders. It goes back to Rossi. Julia was this little ball of fire and played like an underdog. We know what it was like getting knocked out of [the NCAA Tournament] the last three years. But we think we have a special weapon on our side. Rossi will be there.”

From a distance, so will Greg and Kirsten Rossi. If the Golden Rams win the national title, Julia’s parents promised that they would show up if there was any post-championship celebration. They’ll watch by her framed jersey.

“As long as they’re still playing, Julia is still playing and that means a lot to us,” Greg said. “This team has done so much in keeping Julia’s spirit alive, and they’re fighting to win a national championship. These girls have dealt with a lot, and they’re winning. Julia never stopped moving. As long as those girls keep moving, we know our daughter is.”