Brynn Hepting played 63 career games for the Hofstra University women’s lacrosse team. While she was never a standout on the stat sheet, her impact on the program goes deeper than what you see on the field.
After The Pride’s final regular season game against Stony Brook University on April 26, Hepting walked off the field at James M. Shuart Stadium for the last time. Although she received two yellow cards and couldn’t play to the end of the game, the moment still served as another example of what her experience at Hofstra was all about.
“That definitely isn’t necessarily the way I wanted to go out, but it was just another lesson in itself,” Hepting said. “My career wasn’t that last play. It was a whole combination of years, plays and games … It was more like my whole career flashing before my eyes and just remembering every good moment, bad moment, hard moment, adversity, everything.”
Hepting joined the Pride in 2022, starting the first 14 games of the season. While it can be difficult for a student-athlete to still contribute to their team while they get used to being away from home for the first time, Hepting was able to settle in thanks to the support of her teammates and the welcoming environment created by the coaching staff.
“It’s just a whole different culture,” Hepting said. “It was scary being this far away from home. My siblings all go to school close together, and I was the only one who was a good drive [away] … Everybody helped me feel so at home and having half the team be from Long Island already helped too because you kind of get to bounce around the island and see different towns and different places and see other people’s lives a little; I never felt isolated ever or out of a home.”
That support for one another is a major reason for Hepting’s growth throughout her years at Hofstra. This is something that head coach Shannon Smith has always valued and made a point of emphasizing in her players. Whether it was holding team dinners, trivia nights or days out together in her hometown of Babylon, New York, Smith has been an integral part of Hepting’s time at Hofstra.
“[Smith] has always been very supportive on the field and off the field. I think that that’s kind of what makes her stand out from other people,” Hepting said. “She’s a businesswoman, so she really helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my career, [Smith] gave me pretty much all my advice on applying for internships … I think she does a good job of just continuing to build our relationships with her and each other so that we all just trust each other more and that chemistry grows, which will ultimately help us on the field.”
The time bonding with her team ended up helping Hepting on the field. In her sophomore year, she posted career-highs with 19 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers. While the team struggled, the groundwork for the future was being set, and Hepting would be a major part of the team’s success the following season. Her teammates not only saw her ability, but her leadership qualities, as well.
“I think last year being voted [to be] a captain by my team was such an honor,” Hepting said. “I wasn’t a star player in high school and I was never really a star player here either, but people saw something in me and that kind of jumpstarted my confidence and taught me that it’s okay to speak up, it’s okay to be a leader, which also was just self-growth in itself … Being a captain and being looked up to definitely gave me a bigger purpose, which made it so much more meaningful to me and a lot more fun as well.”
Hepting was a staple in the Hofstra lineup. She started every game for the Pride in 2023 and 2024. The trust that the team had in her opened her eyes to what it meant to represent the blue and gold, and how difficult it can be to finally have your career come to an end.
“I think that’s what makes it so hard,” Hepting said. “It just became so much of a part of my life, and each game, you kind of just learn a little bit more. Just [figuring out] what I’m playing for and who I’m playing for, stuff like that, becomes so much more built into you. By your senior year there’s just so much more value in each game in each moment rather than just stressing about playing well … You can’t replicate that anywhere … playing a sport and being given the privilege to do it for so long and get playing time for so long gave me so much room to grow each year.”
Hepting’s value didn’t just come from her ability on the field. Off the field, she embodied everything it meant to be a member of the Pride. She played for her teammates, led by example and never let the moment get too big for anyone on the field, herself included.
“Whether or not I had an amazing game or a terrible game, I was consistent in the way I led the defense,” Hepting said. “So, I think that helped everyone else kind of stay calm. I would say that’s what people see in me the most.”
“I’ve never had an experience like this,” Hepting said. “I think being with each other every day and just the struggles we go through … we have to learn a lot of lessons and we have to grow a lot … It’s like a bond that we all committed to do this, and we all really want to succeed at it. It’s like we’re willing to work every day, and we’re all working towards the same common goal. So, you just naturally support each other through everything after that.”
The feeling of family around the team pushed the Pride to return to the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Championship in 2024. Through the ups and downs of Hepting’s first two seasons, that camaraderie stood out as the biggest factor in why the team saw a five-win improvement.
“It’s huge. I think the most frustration I’ve felt is [knowing] every year I’ve been here, we were good enough. We have always been good enough to win the CAA [and] make the NCAA tournament,” Hepting said. “It feels good to make it further and further in that step because it’s like we’re showing them who we are and proving that Hofstra lacrosse is something … like when you beat a ranked team or a good team or even simply scoring a goal is just like, ‘Yeah, we’re good, we’re legit,’ and proving that to people.”
That “us vs. the world” mentality is one thing that Hepting will miss the most, along with the connections she’s created with the women she has spent the last four years with.
“I think the bond we have is literally unbreakable,” Hepting said. “The lessons we learn just about building relationships and talking to each other and supporting each other through little confidence falters or little things like that. You just learn. Being a freshman, people take care of you, and then, you learn how to take care of each other, and it’s just this relationship that grows, and you grow as a person. I don’t know, it’s irreplaceable. I’m going to miss them.”
With the end of a player’s career comes the difficulty of figuring out what comes next. What does life after lacrosse look like?
“There’s a little bit of an identity crisis, I think, that everybody goes through when they finish,” Hepting said. “I think just even the mere concept of game day, just being so excited, the adrenaline and something like that, I mean, it’s never going to happen again. How close I [have gotten] with all of the girls in the past four years, the combination of sharing that energy and dancing and singing in the locker room and warming up and getting ready; it’s awesome.”
Even though Hepting started every one of the 63 games she played in, was a two-time captain and helped the Pride reach two CAA tournaments, she recognizes that it took a lot to get to the point she’s at today.
“It was never easy,” Hepting said. “There was not a day that I did this that it was easy, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
And it’s only fitting that Hepting’s final message to her teammates and the program she gave four years of her life to is what made her a leader in the first place.
“Continue to stick together and just keep fighting through it. We’ll get somewhere. We’re going to win a CAA. I know they will.”
