Five Northwestern players were named Division I Women’s Preseason All-Americans, USA Lacrosse announced Tuesday.

Senior attackers Madison Taylor and Maddie Epke were selected to the First Team. Graduate student attacker Olivia Adamson, graduate student defender Annabel Child and graduate student goalkeeper Jenika Cuocco were all selected as honorable mentions.

The Wildcats, who are ranked No. 2 in the preseason coaches poll, are one of five teams with at least five All-Americans.

The selection is Taylor’s second straight to the preseason first team. She enters this year after breaking the NCAA Division I single-season goals record while leading NU to the national championship game. The veteran has tallied over 50 goals in each of her first three seasons and scored 109 goals in 2025.

Taylor and former ’Cat Izzy Scane will be part of the United States’ roster for the World Lacrosse Women’s Championship, USA Lacrosse announced Thursday. 

Both players have previously won junior world championships, as Taylor was a U20 champion in 2024 and Scane was a U19 champion in 2019. The 16-team world championships will take place from July 24 to Aug. 2 in Tokyo.

Epke comes to the ’Cats as a transfer after three years at James Madison University. She was nominated for the Tewaaraton Award during his junior year after notching 88 points and corralling 235 draw controls. The Dukes’ all-time leader in draw controls will replace Sam Smith, who nabbed over 100 draw controls during the last three seasons with NU.

The ’Cats’ other three All-American selections round out this season’s incoming transfer class. Adamson arrives in Evanston after four seasons at Syracuse, the final of which was cut short by injury after just three games. In each of her first three seasons, she tallied at least 30 goals. Adamson will face her former school on March 12.

Child spent the past four years at Harvard before transferring to NU. She picked up more than 30 ground balls and caused 25 and 24 turnovers in her junior and senior seasons, earning a Second-Team All-Ivy League nod during her junior year.

Cuocco became a ’Cat after spending four years at Drexel. The three-time CAA Goalkeeper of the Year and multiple-time All-American led all of the NCAA in saves and save percentage in 2024. She will take the place of Delaney Sweitzer, another graduate goalie transfer to be named as an All-American Honorable Mention.

NU begins its quest to return to the national title game when it faces Boston College on Feb. 6.

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