Kathryn Restrepo '19, a political science major from Swarthmore, Pa., represented Swarthmore College Women's Lacrosse in July's FIL Rathbones Women's Lacrosse World Cup while playing for Spain.

Restrepo and the Spanish National Team began play in England on July 13 against Latvia. Their pool continued with games against Germany, Japan, Mexico, China, Latvia again, and Colombia. Restrepo, who scored 60 goals in her first two seasons for Swarthmore before studying abroad in Spain, is set to return to the Garnet for the 2018 season. She led Spain with 12 goals in this year's World Cup.

Restrepo reflects on her experience playing internationally.

How did you get connected with the Spanish National Team?

Last year I was living and studying in Sevilla, Spain. While there, I played with a club lacrosse team. One of the members of the men's team in Sevilla used to coach the Spanish Women's National Team. When he found out that my grandmother was from Spain he suggested that I try out for the national team. Coincidentally, the year that I was living in Spain was also the year of the World Cup so I was there for all of the tryouts. I also had the opportunity to play with and against many of my future teammates in the lacrosse league in Spain. 

What was your experience like playing with and against some of the top talent in the world?

It was truly an incredible experience. I learned so much playing against some really great teams and also had the opportunity to watch a lot of high level lacrosse. It was very interesting seeing how much the playing style can vary country to country. 

What were the most memorable moments/games for you?

In our last and seventh game in the World Cup we played Colombia. We started the game out a little slow and our first half was a bit rough. After half time we came out looking so much better, applying everything we had learned in our previous six games, and ended up winning. It was great comparing our last game to our first game and seeing how much we had improved. We definitely left feeling proud of how far the team had come.

How excited are you about getting back to playing with the Garnet again?

I'm super excited to play with my team at Swat again! I was away from Swarthmore for an entire year and missed the 2017 season, but from what I hear the team dynamic was great both on and off the field. The Centennial Conference won't know what hit them when the "Phighting Phoenix" take the field for the 2018 season.