St. Thomas University player set to represent Colombia's lacrosse team

Miami Herald

17-02-2025

For a little over a decade now, Victoria Orozco and her ancestral home of Colombia have been learning lacrosse -- separately but almost simultaneously.
Orozco, a 24-year-old native of Greensboro, North Carolina, took up lacrosse in 2015.
Two years earlier, Colombia officially became part of world lacrosse.
This year, Orozco – a graduate student at St. Thomas University -- will represent Colombia in the Heritage Cup, which will be held May 23-26 in Weston, Massachusetts.
'It's an incredible honor,' Orozco said.
Orozco, whose family moved to Jacksonville when she was 10, first took up the sport of swimming. But her swim coach, Benjamin Rowan, suggested she try lacrosse – a team he also coached -- and she quickly fell in love with her new sport.
She started playing as a freshman at Jacksonville's Atlantic Coast High School.
As a sophomore, Orozco went to a lacrosse clinic at Jacksonville University, and that deepened her understanding of the sport.
'I liked how lacrosse was a team sport as opposed to swimming,' Orozco said., 'and my lacrosse team felt like a family.'
Her biological family includes her father Juan Carlos Orozco, who was born in Barranquilla, Colombia; and her mother Vanessa Orozco, who is of Puerto Rican ancestry.
When Orozco told her parents she wanted to try lacrosse, the three of them learned the sport together, and, a decade later, it has led to this upcoming international tournament.
'It almost leaves me speechless,' Juan Carlos Orozco said. 'It makes my heart beat fast to know she made the team.'
That Orozco has gotten this far a testament to her dedication to lacrosse.
She has overcome injuries, and she's now playing her final collegiate season while attending her fourth university.
Orozco suffered a broken collarbone in 2018, a frightening injury.
'I couldn't move my left arm above my head,' Orozco said, 'and I had tingling in my left hand.'
Orozco missed all of last season due to a bulging disc on the left side of her neck.
Doctors told her that the injury was nearly career-ending, but Orozco made it back and competed in STU's season-opener on Feb. 7.
Orozco started her career at an NCAA Division II school, Lees-McCrae College, located in Banner Elk, North Carolina.
She started every game in her one year at Lees-McCrae.
Orozco wanted – at that time – to become a veterinarian, but she changed her mind and transferred to Webber International University, an NAIA school in the Lakeland area. At Webber, she majored in business administration.
After one season at Webber, Orozco finally found her footing at Midland University, an NAIA school in Fremont, Nebraska.
Orozco changed her major again, graduating with a degree in digital marketing.
On the field, Orozco was successful in her first season before missing last year due to the aforementioned bulging disc.
'I think she's a great player,' Midland coach Masey Jay said. 'She was a big piece of our zone defense – really aggressive and intense.
'When you are passionate like she is, it's easy to find that internal grit. She challenges herself and gives 100 percent at every practice, hammering on the details of lacrosse.'
After Midland, Orozco transferred to STU to work on her Master's degree in marketing.
It was an easy transition for Orozco because her STU coach, Ceinwen Simpson, had once coached her at Atlantic Coast High.
'Victoria has worked really hard to reach this level,' Simpson said.
Orozco, who said she chose STU in part because she didn't have to 'reacquaint myself to a new playing style,' has high hopes for what she can accomplish with lacrosse and Colombia.
For example, she would like to one day hold lacrosse clinics in Barranquilla, teaching her favorite sport to the next generation.
Earlier this month, Orozco officially became a dual citizen of Colombia, and she is set to pick up her Colombian passport next week.
That will help her make future Colombian national teams because countries are only allowed four non-passport players on their rosters.
After the Heritage Cup, Orozco hopes to be on the Colombia team that is set to complete in a world qualifier in Lakeland, June 26-30. There will be 10 teams competing, and the top three will compete in the 2026 World Cup, which is set for Tokyo (July 24-August 2).
'Being part of 'Colombia Lacrosse' feels amazing,' Orozco said. 'Words can't fully express how proud my family is of me.'