Kathy Taylor, a longtime college women’s lacrosse coach, built her career around consistency, accountability, and athlete development that extended beyond any single season. For Olivia Lynch, that consistency showed up not only in practices and games, but in the quiet, unrecorded moments that shape an athlete’s confidence over time.
Lynch arrived at Colgate University knowing exactly what she wanted from a coach.
“I wanted someone strong, tough, and who knew how to win,” she says. “Coach Taylor was exactly that.”
A College Career Defined by Setbacks and Standards
Lynch played under Coach Kathy Taylor at Colgate from 2019 to 2022, competing in Division I women’s lacrosse at a level where expectations are explicit, and margins are thin. Her career did not follow a smooth arc. A season canceled by COVID. An ACL tear over winter break that erased her junior year. Tendonitis during her senior season made running painful.
Each disruption forced a choice: withdraw, or adapt.
“When I tore my ACL skiing over winter break, telling Coach Taylor was one of the hardest moments for me because I feared I had let the team down,” Lynch recalls.
The response she received mattered.
“She supported me completely, prioritizing my recovery,” Lynch says.
Later, when tendonitis limited her senior season, the approach remained the same. Lynch was not pressured to push unnecessarily. Recovery was treated as part of responsibility, not a deviation from it.
Accountability Without Spectacle
Support did not mean lowered expectations.
Lynch remembers a practice where her effort slipped. Taylor addressed it directly.
“She told me, ‘It looks like you don’t want to be here.’”
The comment was not delivered for effect. It was delivered because Lynch was the senior captain.
“As the senior captain, that was unacceptable,” Lynch says. “She made me reflect, adjust, and grow.”
The moment reflects a defining element of Taylor’s coaching style in college women’s lacrosse: standards applied evenly, even when circumstances were difficult, and accountability delivered without humiliation.
Quiet Investments That Last
Some of Taylor’s most lasting influence, Lynch says, came in small gestures that never appeared in a box score.
Throughout her recovery and return, Taylor left handwritten notes of encouragement in Lynch’s locker. One remains on Lynch’s desk today.
“Your time will come, Liv. When you get your chance, be ready.”
Lynch earned back her starting role. More importantly, she carried forward the understanding that effort and patience mattered, even when progress was uneven.
A Choice That Said Everything
At Colgate, seniors are given the opportunity to present the Colgate Medal, a tradition honoring the faculty or staff member who had the greatest impact on their college experience.
Lynch did not hesitate.
“I was proud and honored to give it to Coach Taylor,” she says. “She never stopped investing in me.”
The decision was not about a single season or statistic. It reflected a relationship built across injury, recovery, leadership responsibility, and trust.
Kathy Taylor on Coaching Through Setbacks
Taylor describes her approach to injured athletes in practical terms shaped by decades coaching college women’s lacrosse.
“Injuries are part of competitive sports,” she says. “How you support athletes through those moments says more than anything that happens on game day.”
Her focus, she explains, has always been on development over time.
“My job was never just to coach the athlete who was on the field that day,” Taylor says. “It was to coach the person they were becoming.”
What Endures
Lynch’s experience reflects a broader pattern across Taylor’s career as a college women’s lacrosse coach: demanding standards paired with sustained support, and expectations that do not disappear when circumstances become difficult.
Years after leaving Colgate, Lynch still keeps Taylor’s words close.
“Your time will come,” the note reads. “Be ready.”
For many athletes, readiness is not only about returning to play. It is about learning how to navigate setbacks without losing confidence or purpose.
For Lynch, that lesson remains inseparable from her time under Kathy Taylor’s coaching.