Kate Immergluck wasn’t drawn to lacrosse immediately.

“I started playing in fifth grade because a lot of my friends played,” she said. “I was horrible and none of it ever made sense to me.”

She took to the sport relatively quickly afterwards and even tried out for a travel program.

“I started practicing every day with my dad for about a month before tryouts,” she said.  “I was sure I’d never make [the team] but I just wanted to try anyway. Then, I ended up making the team and it was like this whole new world.”

Now, she stars on Decatur’s girls’ lacrosse team. Through the first three games of the season, she scored 27 goals and led the Bulldogs to a 2-1 record. Although their current record doesn’t reflect it, Immergluck maintains that this is “the best Decatur team [she’s] been on.”

“Our record is not so great, but I don’t think it reflects us as a team,” she said. “We have amazing players and we’re trying new and challenging things defensively. Hopefully the hard work will pay off, but I’m so proud to be on the team with such amazing people, mostly.”

The hard work on her end has already paid off. She committed to Pomona College in Claremont, CA after the coach watched her play at a lacrosse camp and invited her to visit.

“I used to be completely against playing anywhere except a Division I school, but the coach invited me to visit and my parents really encouraged it because it’s a really good school,” she said. “I ended up loving everything about the school; the location, the coach, and the team. And I started to value the experience I would have at a really good school [like Pomona] more than the Division I experience at a school I wasn’t as in love with.”

Surprisingly, this isn’t the highlight of her lacrosse career.

“My favorite lacrosse moment was when my best friend from club and I decided to play for this little church league team in a tournament with a lot of powerhouse teams like Walton and Lassiter,” she said. “In the finals, in double overtime, I got a free position. I am never clutch, but this one time the sun was setting, and I just took a deep breath and made the shot and we all piled on top of each other. It was like a movie.”

For those who know her, this isn’t a surprise. According to Sarah Grace Stafford, her teammate on Decatur’s lacrosse team for three years, she rarely puts herself before the team.

“She’s the most selfless person I know,” she said. “She’s super humble and really, really good at lacrosse. I’m just so glad that she’s my teammate.”