Kaylee Craig is a standout draw specialist and midfielder from the ADVNC North Bay 2027 team committed to play at the University of Indianapolis.
Kaylee’s lacrosse journey is quite unique. Kaylee grew up in a remote part of Northern Nevada. Fallon, Nevada, to be exact. An hour’s drive east of Reno. There was no organized lacrosse there when she was a kid. Her mom, Karla Craig played soccer in college, at Truman State University in Missouri. She had zero knowledge of lacrosse. Her dad, Andrew Craig, attended the Naval Academy, and knew about lacrosse, but never played. He never considered introducing his daughter to lacrosse.
Kaylee with her first team in Fallon, NV.
As a kid, Kaylee played a variety of sports, mainly soccer, like her mom, basketball and softball. Then one day, towards the start of middle school, a parent of one of Kaylee’s friends said they were getting a small group of girls together to play lacrosse. Kaylee had never heard of lacrosse, but decided to go out and give it a try.
“I liked how fast paced the game was,” Kaylee said. “Growing up playing soccer, it wasn’t very fast paced to me. Very limited scoring. It felt like there was a lot of finesse to lacrosse, and overall, that’s why I’ve enjoyed it so much.”
“We had never seen lacrosse before, except in the movies,” Karla Craig said. “We had never seen it in person. So when Kaylee started playing, we really had no idea what was going on. Once we started watching lacrosse, we thought it was really fun. There’s a lot of scoring and a lot of action.”
“I watched a lot of lacrosse videos on YouTube,” Kaylee said. “I had to do that to learn the game because there wasn’t any real lacrosse for me to go watch around where I live. So I watched videos and practiced on my own.”
Kaylee is a standout on her Oasis Academy Varsity team.
“Kaylee picked up lacrosse fairly naturally,” Andrew Craig recalled. “She works hard at everything she does. But when she said she taught herself how to play lacrosse, she didn't say that jokingly. There was literally nobody that lived around us that played when she started.”
Self-taught, Kaylee eventually started playing on a travel team in Reno in middle school. Her high school, Oasis Academy, had a lacrosse team but when Kaylee started high school, they had no one to coach. Karla volunteered, despite knowing nothing about the game.
“When I started out, I went to a coach’s clinic in Baltimore for three days,” Karla said. “But it’s been a lot of learning. It’s very hard to coach a sport you have never played. So I am constantly looking up things online.”
“It’s definitely been a learning experience for both of us,” Kaylee said. “We both started out knowing almost nothing about lacrosse. But as I’ve learned more through my lacrosse experience, I try to help my mom out with her coaching. I’ve taken some drills that I’ve learned with my ADVNC team, and brought those to our Oasis practices.”
“Kaylee and a few of her teammates that also play travel lacrosse have helped me a lot, Karla said. “Despite my lack of knowledge of the game, our high school team has a ton of heart and grit. We are a tiny school, but we compete with the bigger Reno schools and often beat them.”
Playing in high school, Kaylee’s passion for the game grew even more. She started thinking she’d like to play in college. With that in mind, she joined ADVNC North Bay in the fall of 2025, leading into her college recruiting summer.
“ADVNC is a lot more competitive than the travel team in Reno I was playing for,” Kaylee said. “I love how competitive our team is, and the higher level lacrosse we can play. And then overall, I love the group of girls that I'm with. I think we have a great chemistry to work together. Going to tournaments in Maryland and Florida was something I needed to do if I wanted to play in college. Playing for ADVNC gave me a lot more exposure to higher level lacrosse and lots of college coaches.”
The drive from her home in Fallon, NV to Marin, CA for practices is close to 5 hours each away. So the decision to play for ADVNC was a big one for Kaylee and her parents.
“It was a big commitment, but it was worth it,” Andrew Craig said. “The thing I’ve enjoyed the most about ADVNC is that all the girls were out for the same thing. They all wanted to get noticed by college coaches. They were playing together as a team, but also wanted to get recruited. I felt like they were very supportive of each other. It never seemed like they were out there for just themselves.”
“Seeing her play with ADVNC was really fun, because everyone on the team loved lacrosse,” Karla Craig said. “Everyone really wanted to be there. No one was there because their parents made them. Kaylee would come home and say it was great because everyone on the team just wanted to get better and do great.”
Heading into her recruiting summer, Kaylee leaned on Brooke Eubanks, the ADVNC Girls Director. “Coach Eubanks and other ADVNC coaches got me started with the IWLCA. That helped college coaches find me. We also had weekly meetings, getting me ready for the recruiting process. ADVNC helped me a lot learning how to communicate with college coaches through emails, phone calls, and in person. Then, playing with ADVNC in tournaments, and getting connected with the right college prospect camps was super helpful.”
Kaylee started talking with the coaches at the University of Indianapolis, and flew out for a visit. She was offered a spot and committed in February of 2026. “‘I’m super excited and I think it will be a great fit for me,” she said. “I love the coaches. They’re super nice and competitive. The players seem very supportive of one another. I also like how they have a winning program, and play in the Division II Tournament almost every year. And the University of Indianapolis is a great school. I want to study engineering.”
Kaylee is excited to play for the University of Indianapolis.
“Having her commit to Indianapolis was the best feeling ever!,” said Karla Craig. “It was a long process. It had a lot of ups and downs. It was very frustrating, at times. But Coach Eubanks and others kept telling us that Kaylee would find the school she was meant to be at. And that turned out to be true. We have a lot of family that live around Indianapolis. The engineering program is great. And they have a super competitive team. The whole thing is awesome.”
“Even though we live in Nevada, our whole family is from the Midwest,” Andrew Craig said. “She will probably have more fans at the games of anyone on the team. But there were times in the recruiting process that were very frustrating. But it all worked out, and we couldn’t be happier.”
With the process behind them, the Craig’s have this advice for other parents and players. “If you aren’t already on a travel team that will help get you recruited for college, you need to join no later than your high school sophomore year. I wish we had moved everything up with Kaylee joining ADVNC at least by a year to help prepare her.”
Agreeing with Andrew, Karla Craig added, “if the child’s passion for the sport is there, then let your child initiate the lead in the recruiting journey. We then supported her dreams. In our case, it was Kaylee making the 5 hour drive each way for ADVNC practices. So it was clear her desire and commitment to play in college was there.”
Kaylee has the following advice for young players who want to follow in her footsteps. “Your main focus should be on your work ethic. Just keep working hard, even through the bad moments. Overall, your work ethic will set you apart. And on top of that, just trust that everything will happen for a reason.”