Peterborough’s Avery Johnston Earns Rookie of the Year Honours With Louisville Cardinals

By Scott Arnold

Avery Johnston made an immediate impact in her freshman season with the Louisville Cardinals, earning Rookie of the Year honours after establishing herself as one of the team’s top contributors.

Peterborough native Avery Johnston was named Rookie of the Year after a standout freshman season with the Louisville Cardinals women’s lacrosse team. (photo via instaggram @louisvillelax)

The Peterborough native started all 15 games for Louisville in 2026, putting together a standout freshman campaign that saw her lead the Cardinals in both ground balls and caused turnovers.

Johnston finished with a team-high 35 ground balls, averaging 2.33 per game to rank fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference. She also led Louisville with 21 caused turnovers.

Her ability to create possessions and disrupt opposing offences was evident from the beginning of the season.

Johnston recorded the first ground ball and caused turnover of her collegiate career in Louisville’s opener against Ohio State on February 10th. Eight days later, she collected four ground balls and caused three turnovers in a victory over Kent State.

She followed that with back-to-back games featuring three ground balls against North Carolina and Canisius on February 22nd and 25th.

Johnston then produced one of her strongest stretches of the season in consecutive Louisville victories over California and Vanderbilt from March 21st to 25th, combining for 12 ground balls and five caused turnovers.

She continued to make her presence felt against some of the ACC’s top competition, recording three ground balls against No. 10 Stanford on April 4th before grabbing three ground balls and causing four turnovers against Pitt on April 11th.

The Rookie of the Year honour added another highlight to a freshman season that also saw Johnston recognized for her work in the classroom. She was named to the Women’s Lacrosse All-ACC Academic Team.

From her first collegiate game to her final appearances of the season, Johnston established herself as one of Louisville’s most productive players, putting together an impressive debut at the NCAA Division I level.

Scott Arnold is a Journalist and Content Creator at PTBOCanada Media Inc

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