Babylon to Baltimore: Lacey Downey’s Journey

Ben Robertson — March 20, 2026

BALTIMORE, Md. — Whether she is scooping up ground balls, causing turnovers or ripping nasty overhand shots, if there is a play to be made, Lacey Downey makes it.

She did exactly that on a rainy night in early March, when she scored the go-ahead goal and secured two crucial draw controls in the final five minutes of a Johns Hopkins comeback win over James Madison.

The Blue Jays entered the fourth quarter down by four goals before firing in six unanswered.

Much like that night for the Jays, Downey’s college career did not go exactly as planned — at least to start.

A product of West Babylon High School on Long Island, Lacey was the 10th-ranked player in the class of 2023.

“I was lucky enough to be one of the top recruits, but it was also extremely stressful,” Downey said.

Coaches may contact recruits on Sept. 1 of their junior year. When that day comes, every coach in the country is competing to get in touch with players and land commitments as soon as possible.

Lacey’s phone blew up. She had to decide which schools she was interested in and wanted to visit in a limited time.

The daughter of teachers, Downey’s priorities were two-fold: a lacrosse powerhouse with excellent academics. Boston College, the reigning national champions at the time, offered the perfect combination of both.

“If lacrosse could get me into a school that I might not be able to without it, that’s what I was going to do,” Downey said. “Boston College winning a national championship the year prior and being a great institution is probably why I picked it.”

The only other school she visited was Syracuse.

“I had other visits scheduled; I just canceled them.”

Under pressure to commit, wanting to focus on her field hockey season and seemingly having found the perfect blend of athletics and academics, Downey decided she would ship up to Chestnut Hill.

Before becoming a Boston College Eagle, though, she had to wrap up an impressive three-sport career for the West Babylon Eagles.

Lacey piled up accolades in field hockey and basketball, in addition to becoming a three-time USA Lacrosse All-American before she graduated.

Downey’s athletic roots came from her parents, Christine and Ray, who were both college athletes. Playing sports was not optional for the Downey sisters — Kayla, Ellie, Lacey and Chloe.

“They wanted us to play something any time possible, so we needed a sport a season,” Lacey said. “When it came to the spring, it was either lacrosse or softball, and they decided they’d rather watch lacrosse.”

Once Downey got to Boston College, it only took a semester to realize the Heights were not the right fit.

“I just wasn’t happy,” Downey said. “We got into the season, and I still wasn’t. So, I was like, if I’m not happy, then I should just transfer because there’s definitely a school that would be a better fit for me.

After redshirting her first season, she decided it was time to move on.

It did not take long for Johns Hopkins Head Coach Tim McCormack to find out. In fact, it was Downey’s high school coach, Colleen Kilgus, who made sure McCormack got the news.

“You’ll never guess,” Kilgus started to say over the phone.

She did not have to go on; McCormack knew exactly what she meant.

Lacey Downey was in the transfer portal.

McCormack once told Kilgus it would be a “dream” to coach Downey at the collegiate level.

The former UMass goalie did not care that Kilgus and just about everyone else told him it would never happen. He loved Lacey’s game and her demeanor even more.

“She is so calm, cool and collected, but at the same time, she’s the most incredibly competitive person you will ever meet,” McCormack said. “If there’s any kind of competition on the line, this kid doesn’t want to lose it.”

McCormack recruited Downey tirelessly out of high school, but the Long Beach, N.Y. native could not lure her out to Arizona State, where he was coaching at the time.

Lacey could not get over a nearly 3,000-mile move, and Boston College sat on the highest mountain in college lacrosse.

Still, she noticed that McCormack and assistant coaches Nicole Graziano and Dorrien Van Dyke were mainstays at her club tournaments and high school games long after she committed.

Now at Johns Hopkins — an elite academic institution quickly climbing the ranks of the Big Ten on the field — McCormack did not waste any time after getting off the phone with Kilgus.

The portal opened while Boston College was in postseason play, so Downey was still practicing with the Eagles.

“He was the first call I got. I was on the way to practice, and I had to tell him I couldn’t talk right now,” Downey said.

McCormack found a better time to call, and he and his staff — who followed him to Baltimore — finally saw their efforts pay off.

“She felt the love from all the time we put in the first time around, knowing, essentially, we weren’t getting her,” he said. “I think she just had a feeling that she was wanted.”

Just like in high school, it did not take long for Lacey to make her decision. However, this time it did not feel rushed or pressured. She made the choice with confidence.

Downey has become a star midfielder for the Jays, earning First-Team All-Big Ten honors in 2025. Now in her second season playing on the historic Homewood Field, she embraces every aspect of her position.

“If I’m not doing well on the attacking end, I know that I always have defense in my back pocket,” she explained. “If I turn the ball over, I have the opportunity to go back on defense and try to get it back or get a stop.”

It is exactly who she has always been on the field.

“You should have seen how many caused turnovers she had in high school,” Kilgus said.

Not to mention, Downey led Long Island in points twice.

Colleen Kilgus, Lacey’s high school coach, knows the Downey family well, having coached all four sisters at West Babylon. She jumps at the chance to speak about Lacey.

“I can talk about Lacey for days; she is that special. Everyone who watches her can see that,” Kilgus remarked. “That’s what caught everyone’s attention — just who she is as an athlete, player, teammate and person. She is, and forever will be, a game changer.”

The eldest Downey sister, Kayla, now works with Kilgus on the Long Island Jesters coaching staff. Kayla’s own success as a transfer was a source of inspiration for Lacey.

After a COVID-19-shortened freshman season at Stony Brook, Kayla transferred to Coastal Carolina. Over the next three seasons, she tallied more than 200 points and was named ASUN Player of the Year as a senior before a program-record-setting season as a graduate student at Virginia Tech.

“It made me feel a lot more comfortable going into the same process she had been in,” Lacey said.

As her sister did, Downey embraced a new environment, and the civil engineering major has found new horizons in Charm City.

A proud Long Islander, she also admits it can be a bit of a bubble.

“So many people who come [to Johns Hopkins] live all around the world, from Asia to Europe,” Downey said. “You look at the college itself — it is so diverse, so inclusive, which personally, I love.”

On and off the field, Downey has built close connections with her teammates, including Ava Angello, a First-Team All-Big Ten attacker and 90-point contributor in 2025.

“Right away, she took me under her wing and treated me just like anyone else on the team, which I really respected,” Downey said about Angello. “We kind of just clicked instantly and became best friends.”

Downey has grown fully comfortable in her new home, and that is reflected by her play on the field.

With the ability to take over the game on offense and wreak havoc for the Jays’ high-pressure defense, she has started the 2026 season on a rampage.

While it was not what she planned, Lacey would not change anything about her journey.

“I don’t regret my time at Boston College,” she said. “I think it was meant to be that I started there, and I think it was meant to be that I ended here.”