Trekking to her brother’s field hockey games every Sunday morning proved to be an unexpected pleasure for 8-year-old Lauren Rowe. 

Amidst the cheering crowds, the pulsating field and the unmistakable sound of sticks smacking the ball, young Rowe found herself entirely captivated by the lively environment that enveloped her brother’s games.

It wasn’t soon enough that Rowe found herself back at the field, not as a spectator, but as a player. 

“My parents took me down for training one Sunday morning, and from there, it became a massive part of my life,” said Rowe, a fifth-year midfielder. “It just consumed my weekends. It was as simple as that. I just turned up to Sunday training one day and fell in love with the sport.”

Rowe grew up in Norwich, England and pursuing a collegiate career in the United States was a feat she was determined to accomplish, regardless of the challenges acclimating to a new environment may present. 

In 2019, her freshman year at Northeastern, Rowe had an outstanding start. She started in 19 out of 19 games for the Huskies as a freshman, finished the season tied for first in the CAA with 16 goals and broke the program record for most goals scored by a freshman. 

Throughout the following years, Rowe’s excellence continued to prevail, serving as a cornerstone for a blossoming Huskies field hockey team. 

In 2020, the captain led the CAA with 36 shots, and in 2021, she earned All-CAA First Team Honors as the only player in the conference to record double digits in goals and assists, as well as leading Northeastern in goals (11), assists (10) and points (32). 

Pam Spuehler, Northeastern field hockey’s head coach, has watched Rowe’s career flourish right from its inception. For her, Rowe is simply irreplaceable. 

“The one thing about Rowe is no matter what her role is, she accepts it wholeheartedly,” Spuehler said. “She doesn’t complain, and she’s always all in with whatever we’re doing for the team. She’s a selfless leader on and off the pitch.” 

In 2022, Rowe hit a roadblock — she tore her ACL. Despite missing her 2022 season due to injury, Spuehler said that Rowe’s innate leadership abilities shined the brightest during her time off the field. 

“Instead of dwelling on that moment in time [her injury], she stepped right up and said, ‘How can I be the best leader from the sidelines? How can I lead my team from the sidelines and more of a coaching role?’” Spuehler said. 

For Rowe, sitting out last season due to injury was a poignant chapter in her collegiate career. Although it significantly tested her patience and perseverance, she resurfaced with a newfound determination to make a positive impact on the team.

“Taking a year off is never ideal, but I think it really just gave me an opportunity to see the game from a different perspective,” Rowe said. “I was able to take that time to reflect and grow as a person. I was able to help my teammates differently from the sidelines because I wasn’t necessarily on the pitch with them every day.” 

While Rowe has continuously been one of the Huskies’ top scorers, she believes that much of her success is attributed to the versatility of her teammates. 

“I see myself scoring goals as if it’s my job,” Rowe said. “It’s my role within the team to execute those skills, but that wouldn’t be possible without my teammates. We have had a bunch of different people scoring goals this year who maybe haven’t scored those goals before, and I think it goes to show our strength and depth as a team.”

As a fifth-year student-athlete, Rowe’s enduring leadership skills have left an indelible mark on the team’s performance and overall morale, fostering an atmosphere of unity and determination that resonates throughout each season.

“No matter what game or practice we’re going into, she shows up and leaves everything that is going on in her life off the field,” Spuehler said. “Her ability to be present in the moment is one of the reasons why her teammates look to her so much. She just has this presence about her. She walks into a room, and her leadership just kind of exudes off of her.” 

Rowe’s skillfulness on the field has undeniably propelled the team to a more competitive and successful level, said assistant head coach Colin Clarke. 

“She’s exceptional,” Clarke said. “Her performances on the field are consistently high. She is a brilliant role model to the rest of her teammates and she shows them the standard they should be aspiring to deliver every game.” 

Rowe’s performance in crunch games has also been a fundamental pillar for the Huskies when a  game hangs in the balance.

“Her ability to deliver under pressure is so good,” Clarke said. “She has won us games that we would not have won otherwise, no doubt.”

This season, Rowe led the Huskies in total points (26) and was tied for most assists (8). She sits fourth in the CAA in shots on goal and third in goals scored. 

There was a critical moment during the Huskies’ match against the University of Delaware on Oct 6 that illuminated the profound impact the Norwich native has had on the team.

During a closely contested match against Delaware, a team Northeastern hadn’t managed to defeat since 2012, Rowe uttered a speech that underscored her exceptional leadership qualities, teammate and close friend Maria Armaganian said.

“We all gathered on the pitch in the middle of the field,” Armaganian said. “Rowe told everyone to put their sticks in the middle of the circle. She looked every single one of us in the eyes and told us we were capable of doing this. We have worked hard. We’re all very individually talented, and this is when we put it all together; this is what we are meant to do.” 

As someone who has shared the field with Rowe throughout a significant portion of her collegiate journey, Armaganian believes that Rowe is undoubtedly a rare commodity. 

“She’s a playmaker,” Armaganian said. “Even though she has so many goals to her name, she is the type of person who will selflessly pass the ball no matter what. She never second guesses anything because she fully believes in you both as a player and a person.”

Rowe still has more opportunity to enhance the success of the Northeastern team as she has one more year of eligibility left due to COVID-19 and injury.