By Caroline Crawford

During the last week of spring sports, many athletes around campus were holding on to their last days of participating in Collegiate athletics for the year. For the girls varsity lacrosse team, the impending absence of Coach Savannah Clarke for the 2024-2025 season added a particularly somber aspect to the final week of the season.

As a new member of the girls varsity lacrosse coaching staff since last year, Clarke has brought a certain energy and positivity to the group. She specializes in training goalies to perform their best, as she played the position at St. Bonaventure University for four years, and used her fifth year of eligibility (thanks to COVID-19) to play at Youngstown State University. This year, Clarke has spent most of her time training goalies Abby Carley (‘26) and Finley Wittcamp (‘26). Wittcamp remarked, “Not only is Coach Clarke a great coach, but also an extremely kind person. We are all going to miss her so much next year!”

Clarke grew up in Richmond and attended Atlee High School in Hanover, where she played lacrosse and field hockey. She always knew that Collegiate was a strong athletic presence in the Richmond area, so Clarke pursued a job in the Athletic Department. She is an athletic coordinator, meaning she organizes transportation requests for athletics, as well as calendar management, scheduling of facility rentals, open gyms, and National Letter of Intent (NLI) signings.

Clarke began coaching the varsity girls field hockey and lacrosse teams last year. She knew that she wanted to be involved in coaching as an adult because of some great—and, according to her, “not as great”—coaches she had in the past. Clarke said, “Because of that, I wanted to be able to give back to the sports that had given so much to me throughout my high school and college career, but also to be able to be the coach that I didn’t always have.”

Clarke coaching lacrosse. Photo credit: Maggie Bowman.

Clarke’s favorite aspect of Collegiate athletics is the team spirit and energetic environment found on every team. She loves the cheers on the sidelines of sports games and watching the captains decorate the team locker rooms for every season. Her favorite gameday tradition is team breakfast. Before important games, the varsity lacrosse team (along with many other sports teams) holds team breakfasts to bring the team together to start the day together. Clarke has appeared at team breakfasts to encourage us for that afternoon’s game. 

Co-captain Heidi Albrecht (‘24) reflected on her time with Clarke: “Whenever I see Coach Clarke on a day that we have a game, she always greets me with a smile and says ‘Happy gameday!’ She is the sweetest person who cares so much about her players. Her positive attitude and kind heart makes her so approachable that I love going to visit her during the school day!”

Albrecht’s teammates share similar sentiments about Clarke. Junior Celie Shield (‘25) said, “We have a random game that we play where we try to slip a ball through the other person’s legs while they aren’t paying attention. I don’t know where it came from, but it has made every practice that I’ve had with Coach Clarke so fun, and I’ll really miss her next year.”

As a current player on the team, I look forward to seeing Clarke around school and every day at practice. She is always supportive and makes practice enjoyable for everyone. My favorite memory with Clarke is when she dressed out in her goalie gear and played with us for a practice. Under the alias “Hawaii Five-0,” Coach Clarke was a force in the goal for the afternoon and encouraged everyone on the team to take precise shots. She also proved her skills that day, as she only let in a few goals. Clarke is one of my favorite coaches, and I will miss her greatly next year. 

Next year, Clarke will move to Charleston, South Carolina, where she plans to work in marketing and live near her family. She is excited to live near the beach because of the warm weather and the soothing sound of the ocean. Despite her mixed feelings about departing, Clarke is leaving Richmond for a change of pace after living here for most of her life.

From her time at Collegiate, Clarke has developed a true passion for coaching and looks forward to continuing to have a positive impact on the people she coaches. Clarke says, “I have grown so much since I started [at Collegiate] and have learned a lot about myself and the coaching environment.”

Featured image credit: Maggie Bowman.