The 2026 SCIAC women’s lacrosse title will likely come down to a sixth consecutive rematch between Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer.
These two teams account for all four of the SCIAC’s preseason All-Americans. From the four-time reigning Sagehens, River Buechner PO ’26 achieved third-team status, with Shelby Stanton PO ’26 and Taylor Glanville PZ ’26 both named as honorable mentions. CMS’s Julia Ryan CM ’27 earned the second-team recognition for draw specialists.
Ryan, coming off a national-best 19.22 draw controls per game, recognizes how the mental component of her game impacts performance. As a co-head of the 5C chapter of Morgan’s Message, she helps combat the stigma surrounding mental health for athletes.
“Mindset is so important,” Ryan said. “The mental side of sports is just as important as the physical side, and your mindset is really a tool that you can use. I like to use it to shape me, to motivate me and keep me focused and accountable.”
Stanton’s battle with physical injury parallels Ryan’s emphasis on the mental game. After missing her entire sophomore year season recovering from a torn ACL, all the work she put in during her recovery has culminated in this honor.
“Seeing ‘All-American’ was really exciting, because it means that all of my PT [physical therapy], all of the work that I’ve done to come back to lacrosse and all the support from teammates was well worth the while,” Stanton said. “It got me really excited to play alongside my teammates this year.”
Stanton’s teammates include the other two preseason All-Americans: Glanville and Buechner. Both players posted high-scoring totals last season as a product of their ability to dodge and drive to the net. For Glanville, her unrelenting competitive spirit sustains her.
“I’m just a very competitive person, which is good and bad sometimes, but I definitely go full-effort every game,” Glanville said. “Definitely putting extra time in after [practices] and practicing really hard always helps. Playing against people who are really good [in practice], it gives you the leg up to go against good teams.”
Buechner believes that setting more personal goals — focused on personal growth rather than numbers — has helped her play at an All-American level.
“When you set specific goals about exactly how far you want to go, that accounts for a lot of factors that you can’t really control,” Buechner said. “When you set goals that are really just about finding your own potential, it takes a huge weight and mental pressure off.”
That mentality, one of being kind to yourself and present, is reflected with Stanton as well.
“It’s my senior season now, so I’m just trying to be really present and grateful,” Stanton said. “This is really the last time that I can move my body in this way, and be really grateful and hold a lot of gratitude for being with the team every day.”
Stanton continued, sharing how being thankful and just having fun can propel her and her team to success. For Stanton, maintaining a positive attitude while collectively pushing through adversity is key to team success.
“Practice can be hard, and there will be hard games,” Stanton said. “Just looking at the big picture and playing, this is really the last time that I get to be with a group of really intelligent, driven women in this kind of setting. I feel like that itself is a driving force.”
All four women have shown elite on-field ability, effort behind the scenes and strong mental fortitude. For the SCIAC to be home to four All-Americans, from two different teams, is a testament to the growing role of lacrosse in the West Coast.
“One thing that I just think is so cool about the preseason All-Americans is that it really shows that West Coast lacrosse, and specifically lacrosse at the 5Cs, is finally getting some national recognition,” Ryan said. “Historically, a lot of the attention in lacrosse has gone to the East Coast, so seeing preseason All-Americans from this region really shows how competitive and developed the programs have become.”
Ryan and the Athenas opened with a 26-3 win against California Lutheran University on Feb. 11. The Sagehens and their three All-American seniors open SCIAC play on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. against Occidental College on Merritt Field. P-P and CMS will first face off on March 7 at CMS, and the Sagehens will host the second matchup on April 22 on Merritt.
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