ELON, N.C. – Abby Marquette and Reagan Kuehn play the same position. They played for the same club team. They played for the same high school team. Now, they play for the same college team.

While they grew up in different towns, with Marquette growing up in Fallston, Maryland., and Kuehn hailing from Towson, lacrosse connected the two at an early age. The first time the two played together was eight years ago, when they were in sixth grade, for The Sky Walkers Lacrosse Program based in Maryland.

"It was really fun [to play together]," Marquette said. "Especially since we played club and high school together, so that was fun to see how it translated. And now to see how it translates into playing in college together."

While they shared many great moments together on the lacrosse field, there is one memory that stood above the rest to both of them.

When they were juniors in high school, it was their last year playing club lacrosse for the Sky Walkers. In their last tournament together, they won Lax For The Cure, an important summer tournament for club teams, which both Marquette and Kuehn said they will never forget.

"It was a huge deal for our team because we never won it before," Marquette said. "So it was really a fun experience."

"It was really fun and exciting," Kuehn added. "It was our last tournament all together on the club team. Abby and I had our last year of high school together too, but to end club it was really big and it was really emotional, and it was overall just such a good time."
 
After wrapping up their club lacrosse careers as champions, it was time for both Marquette and Kuehn to make a decision about where they wanted to play lacrosse at the next level, initially with no real thought about remaining teammates in college.

"Abby and I came here [to Elon] on our visit together with Maddie Englekraut and another girl from our club team in high school," Kuehn said. "We toured [Elon] and I instantly knew that I wanted to go here, and I told Abby that this is the school I wanted to go to."

Just one week later, after returning home from her tour, Kuehn committed to Elon University's lacrosse team. 

Kuehn said as soon as she committed, she put on her recruiting hat to convince Marquette to do the same.

"I remember pestering Abby, wondering when she was going to make a decision," Kuehn said.

It turned out that her pitch worked, as Marquette also committed to Elon shortly after Kuehn.

"I feel like we both fell in love with the campus, the environment and everything about the school," Marquette said. "When Reagan committed I definitely was like, 'Yeah, this is going to be a great experience.'"
 
After they both committed to Elon, the two still had their senior season at Maryvale Prep together prior to officially becoming part of Elon lacrosse in the fall of 2023.

When talking about their transition from high school to college, both players said that having each other was comforting and helped ease their transition, especially early on in the school year.

"I was really nervous coming into college," Kuehn said. "As I actually realized I was going to college, I was like, 'Oh crap, it's going to be so tough.' But because I already had Abby going with me I knew someone personally, and we were already friends, so it definitely eased the transition into college."

"It definitely gave me a sense of comfort knowing that I had a piece of home with me," Marquette added. "It was just a great bond to have. We also had a few classes together, which was really helpful because we were basically on the same schedule our first semester, which was really helpful because I don't know what I would have done without having someone."

That was off the field. On the field, both players play the same position, defense, which allowed them to rely on one another in lacrosse as well.

"We know how each other plays so we know each other's strengths and weaknesses," Marquette said. "We know where we can push each other and what we need to push each other with."

"As we're both defenders, we both play the same style, as we have been growing up playing the same style throughout all of these years" Kuehn added. "I'm able to rely on Abby when it comes to clearing the ball or I know she's going to get a ball."

As they both progress through their freshmen season, both Marquette and Kuehn have one goal and one goal only during their Elon tenure. Win.

"I want to win," Kuehn said. "I don't like losing. I think that our team definitely has the potential to do really well this year and beyond… I see so much potential in all of these girls."

"I think our team has so much talent this year," Marquette added. "I think our team is going to be great, and we have a lot to look forward to."
 

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'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.

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