Women's Lacrosse 25th Anniversary Celebration: Abbie McHerron Interviews Crystal Butcher

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Goucher College women's lacrosse team advanced to the NCAA Division III Final Four in 1996. The squad defeated Roanoke on campus 28-16 in the NCAA Quarterfinals and then lost 21-12 in the NCAA Semifinals 25 years ago.

If we did not have the pandemic, we would have probably honored the team throughout the season. We wanted to build that connection between the past and the present, so we had current Goucher women's lacrosse players interview members of the 1996 Final Four team over zoom in May.

Our final interview is with Crystal Butcher performer for lacrosse, and was named a third team All-American in 1996. The El Cajon, Calif., her, who is a 1997 graduate of Goucher College. Butcher, who never saw a women's lacrosse game before coming to Goucher, recorded 12 saves in the win against Roanoke and 18 saves against Middlebury. She left as the all-time leader in saves with 656 stops and third with a .601 save percentage, and currently ranks second in career saves.

Senior and fellow netminder Abbie McHerron (Burnt Hills, N.Y./Burnt Hills) had the honor of interviewing Butcher. The goalkeeper started 21 games and made 150 saves with a 40.8 save percentage in her two seasons. She was also named the Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the Week before the 2020 season was cut short due to the pandemic.

The two discuss how Butcher was convinced to join the women's lacrosse team, and being able to play with the members of the team. The two also discuss the 1996 women's lacrosse team induction into the Hall of Fame. Below is the full version of the conversation.

We will also be releasing short clips of this conversation on Instagram at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m.

Check out the other videos we released:

Nase-Donoghue | Gazzola-Dombrowski | Comerford-Brown