Philadelphia native Tina Sloan Green, a trailblazer for Black women in lacrosse and field hockey, broke racial barriers on the field.
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Growing up at the peak of the civil rights movement, Sloan Green became the first Black athlete selected to the national field hockey and lacrosse teams. Once she made Team USA, she was barred from playing in multiple countries due to legal segregation persisting abroad. Still, she kept pushing.
In 1975, Sloan Green took over Temple women’s lacrosse team, becoming the first Black head coach in collegiate lacrosse history. Through her 18-year tenure in North Philadelphia, she led the Owls to 11 consecutive Final Four appearances and three national championships.
On Saturday, Sloan Green was honored for her many accomplishments before the inaugural Women’s Lacrosse League championship. The league’s new leadership trophy will be named after the former Temple coach.
“It made me feel so good because I’m 82 years old, and to be able to see this, what’s going on, it wasn’t like that back in the day,” Sloan Green said.
The championship game, which saw the Maryland Charm defeat the California Palms, 16-13, drew a significant crowd to Subaru Park in Chester. It was also broadcasted to a national audience on ESPN. The major strides that the league — and women’s lacrosse — has made in recent years are not lost on Sloan Green.
“We’ve shown that it can be done and I’m a prime example of that,” Sloan Green said. “To have this televised and all this stuff, they’ve got to believe it now that they can do it. I’m looking down there [at the] next generations of lacrosse players, and they’re going to be all different types of people. … They’re all going to love the game.”
The Charm’s Sydni Black, a Black woman, was named the championship’s most valuable player after finishing with four goals and one assist. With lacrosse stars from the past and present packed into Subaru Park, Black noted that Sloan Green was “the legend in the house” on Saturday.
“This is her legacy,” Black said. “She has done so many incredible things for the sport. … To be able to do it in the area that she actually carved her own legacy with Temple and everything around here is incredible. When we stand on the backs of giants, she is the biggest giant. Those kind words and even having her own eyes on the game today, that’s why we do it. We’re honoring everyone who came before us and inspiring everyone to come after us.”
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When she took the field, Sloan Green was joined by players and coaches of the Eyekonz Sports League — a local field hockey and lacrosse program that looks to create opportunities for Black and Latino children in the Philadelphia area. After having brain tumour surgery in 2021, Sloan Green joined the program as a coach.
Some of Sloan Green’s former Temple players also made it out to Chester to see their coach honored. One was former Owls goalkeeper Jill Marple — who was inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.
“God is going to have to laugh at what they’ve done, what they’ve become,” Sloan Green said about her former players. “It was really an amazing, amazing opportunity for me to see, to be alive, to see my future in all of this. Not just on the field, but administratively, to see people of color in the sport.”
In many ways, the significance of Saturday’s inaugural championship seemed to outweigh the actual result of the game. Fans donning “Everyone Watches Women’s Lacrosse” T-shirts clambered the concourse to get autographs from WLL players. Meanwhile, one attendee, Jaycie Jaskolka, noted that she was excited to see “history happen” on the field.
After the final whistle and the trophy was presented, former U.S. soccer defender Ali Krieger presented the Charm with a check worth $80,000. The amount, courtesy of Cash App, matches what the championship bonus the men of the Premier Lacrosse League receive.
History has its reward. 🏆💚
Ali Krieger presents the Maryland Charm with an $80,000 @CashApp check after winning the first-ever WLL Championship, matching the PLL championship prize. pic.twitter.com/sIxbxgDVjm
— Women’s Lacrosse League (@wlacrosseleague) August 15, 2026
“As a girl, I went to the men’s Final Four because I didn’t know anything about the women’s Final Four,” said Charm coach Emily Parros, a Delaware County native. “I would ask for cleats and I would ask for signatures and all the things. And now it’s real for girls and boys as well. They’re the ones asking for these women’s autographs.”
And the sport’s rise would not have been possible without legends like Sloan Green laying out the foundation, Black said.
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“I see my future,” Sloan Green said. “I see lacrosse being a headline sport.”