Top Utah player excels at Ravens’ lacrosse

by Paul Lambert
edited by Trent Dunn

Savannah Ernst runs up the field, cutting and weaving past defenders, the crowd cheering her on. She shoots and scores, embracing her teammates after yet another goal.

This has become commonplace when Ernst is on the field.

Yet Ernst never thought she’d be here, racking up goals in bunches as arguably the Ravens’ best lacrosse player. In fact, she didn’t think she’d be going to college, period, despite her immense talent.

Growing up a half-hour outside Salt Lake City, in American Fork, Utah, Ernst discovered lacrosse when she was 10.

“I only played because my sister was playing at the time,” she now says. “If she hadn’t been playing then, I don’t know that I’d be playing lacrosse now.”

In high school, Ernst was one of the top lacrosse players in Utah, leading the state in scoring each year and was named an All-American her senior year. Despite her success, Ernst never pictured herself playing lacrosse after high school. Ernst figured she would settle into family life in Utah, the state where couples get married the youngest.

“I was actually going to get married at 18 and go to a trade school,” Ernst says. “My parents got married at 19. Things are just different in Utah… But when that sort of fell apart, I decided to go to school to play lacrosse.

For Ernst, that decision has worked out nicely. As a freshman, she leads the Ravens in goals and points. Ernst has also been awarded the NE-10 Rookie of the Week award three times, and NE-10 Player of the Week once.

What makes Ernst so dominant? To her, it’s her intense work ethic.

“I just try really hard,” she says. “It doesn’t take talent to try hard… I take it upon myself to do whatever it takes. You have a lot of people on your team and I don’t like letting people down.”

 Ernst actually doesn’t like hearing the praise she has received, however.

“I just work really hard,” she says. “I don’t like hearing people tell me how good I am because I always feel there’s something to work on. I just stay quiet and let my actions speak for themselves.”