TAMPA, Fla. – Natalie Eastwood arrived at USF in August 2024 ready to start her collegiate lacrosse career. She had a productive fall that was packed with practices and scrimmages. The days until the Bulls’ inaugural game against Kennesaw State in early February were rapidly peeling away from the calendar.
Less than three weeks before a memorable evening at Corbett Stadium, Eastwood had the carpet yanked from beneath her feet. There would be no taking the field for the program’s first game, or any game during the 2025 season. A torn ACL made sure of that.
“I never wanted to be like, ‘Why me,’” she told the Tampa Free Press last week. “I was definitely like, ‘Why now?’ Physically, I felt I was in the best shape I had ever been and I felt very prepared mentally.”
The Ellicott City, Md. native and “huge” Baltimore Ravens fan worked like the dickens during a roughly nine-month recovery process. Support from teammates and coach Mindy McCord and her staff made the time and rehab effort go by much more smoothly than it might have otherwise. Eastwood also credited her faith at a time when the light at the end of the tunnel might have seemed rather dim.
Cleared in December, Eastwood had her inaugural college game February 7 when she took the field and trotted toward the goal she would defend against visiting Niagara. She played the first half and was the goalie of record in a 21-5 win.
“It was like taking a deep breath and, ‘I made it through all of that,’” she said of how she felt that night. “I never took anything for granted, but I acquired a whole new appreciation for everything. Even the days I played terribly and was frustrated it was like, ‘Wait! I still got to play.’”
Played terribly? Well, Eastwood is being tough on herself. In fact, she often excelled during a season in which she started each of the Bulls’ 17 games and went 10-4 with a .421 save percentage.
“Sitting out a year as a freshman and the inaugural season was hard,” said McCord. “I think it really motivated her and drove her to succeed. She is a great leader and is very confident. What makes her a great leader is that it is always less about her and more about her teammates.”
Eastwood and her teammates would have preferred a better conclusion to the 2026 season. A 17-7 loss to James Madison in the American Conference championship game May 2 was followed by the Bulls not hearing their name called during the NCAA tournament selection show the next evening. Yet, the biomedical sciences major looks ahead to the fall and making sure the Bulls put themselves in position to take an addition step and not put their fate in someone else’s hands.
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“With our body of work throughout the season, we knew what we accomplished,” said Eastwood, who intends to use her classroom education and injury/rehab experience to help others. “The season didn’t end how we wanted it to, though we are very proud of everything that we did. The bar is set high and we will get back to the championship game. We need to control what we can control and not worry about (if we will still get selected) again.”
International player
Eastwood’s father, Deane, was born in the South Australian capital city of Adelaide. He arrived in Baltimore nearly four decades ago, met his wife, Tracy, and built a career as an accountant. Because of her father, Eastwood qualifies to play on the international stage with Team Australia, which she did at the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship in Hong Kong, and will this summer at the World Lacrosse Women’s Championship in Tokyo. The 16-nation tournament gets underway July 24.
“Being able to play on an international stage is such a great honor,” said Eastwood, who will travel to Australia at the end of this month or early June to train with the national team, return home and then reunite with her teammates in Tokyo. “It is also neat to see how other countries play. They all do something a little different and it elevates my game to learn and take bits and pieces from the other national teams.”
The woman who will coach Team Australia at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Katrina Dowd, is the head coach at Brown. Eastwood made 10 saves in helping lead the Bulls to a win over the visiting Bears on March 1.
“I got to meet her, which was pretty funny,” said Eastwood, while talking about how tight-knit the lacrosse community is. “It was good to make that connection. I know a lot of the people in Adelaide, where my dad is from, who are working within the Olympic group. Being able to make those connections and try to stay noticeable to them is something that I have been attempting to do.”
Thanks to her diligence in recovering from injury and subsequent performance in goal for the Bulls, it has been hard not to notice what Eastwood has achieved.
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