US women’s national lacrosse team is a Boston College reunion under coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein

When Walker-Weinstein was named coach of Team USA in April 2024 , Apuzzo was among the many former Eagles thrilled to once again play for one of the most decorated coaches in the history of the sport. Apuzzo has remained on BC’s staff for the past five years and was promoted to assistant coach in 2021, working alongside Walker-Weinstein while playing professionally and suiting up for Team USA. When Sam Apuzzo graduated from Boston College and joined the Eagles’ lacrosse staff as a graduate assistant in 2019, she expected it to be the end of her time competing for coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein. “To have an opportunity to play for her and be coached by her and see what she sees and hear her feedback is so good for my game, but I think it’s incredible for the entire team to learn from her and see what she sees,” Apuzzo said. Walker-Weinstein invited 36 players to a three-day training camp that began Tuesday at BC’s Fish Field House. It’s the penultimate training camp ahead of the Pan American Lacrosse Association Women’s Continental Qualifier, which will be held in Auburndale, Fla., in June and will determine the qualifiers for the 2026 World Lacrosse Women’s Championship in Japan. Of the 36 players invited to the camp, six currently play for BC and six are alums of the program. Among them is Apuzzo, who played for the Eagles from 2016-19 and led BC to three straight national championship games before joining the staff of her alma mater. Apuzzo said Wednesday she felt like her career had come full circle: Walker-Weinstein was her coach again after five years on staff together, and the players she coaches were on the field beside her. “I was once in their shoes,” she said of the current BC players at training camp. “Now I’m watching them get better each day and implement everything. It’s such a joy for me to be able to play with them because in no other circumstance would I be able to play with these girls.” Apuzzo’s transition between coaching to playing is made easier because of her access to the resources at BC and the network of alums who stay involved with the program. She frequently trains with fellow BC alum Charlotte North, who played at BC from 2020-22. The pair never played together in college — North spent her first two collegiate years at Duke before transferring to BC ahead of the 2020 season — but Apuzzo was on staff when North led BC to its first national title in 2021. North and Apuzzo, along with the other BC alums at training camp on Wednesday, are in constant contact with each other and with the current players, like senior attack McKenna Davis, who scored a nice goal during Wednesday’s session. “No matter if I played with them or not, we’re just such a connected group,” North said. “Same thing with people who played before I was there, like Sam [Apuzzo] and Kenzie [Kent] and a number of other people. I look up to them, and we just try to all stay in communication and in touch.” Walker-Weinstein is the thread that ties the current and former Eagles together. She brings out the best in her players, North said, which makes them want to stay within her orbit even after they’ve graduated. It’s a quality that North believes will help Walker-Weinstein succeed as a coach at the international level. “She’s made for this,” North said. “She’s intense, motivated, passionate, and she’s pushing us to be our best, which is what she’s so good at. She brings the best out of every single one of her players.” North said she makes a point of attending as many BC games as she can to cheer on the Eagles, a fact that isn’t lost on the younger players. “The BC alums have always paved the way for me,” said BC junior midfielder/defender Shea Baker, one of the invitees to this week’s training camp. “Looking up to them and following them throughout the years, and then finally being able to share the field with them and watch their creative play kind of come to life in front of my eyes, not just on TV, is just insane.” Emma can be reached at emma.healy@globe.com or on X @_EmmaHealy_.