Sydney Anderson, Hornet Women's Lacrosse student-athlete, has been named to receive the 2022 Tina Sloan Green Award from the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association. That organization is recognizing Ms. Anderson for her role in publicizing the unwarranted search of her team's bus by Liberty Co. (Ga.) deputy sheriffs in late April, resulting in national media attention on the incident. — *In this photo:* Sydney Anderson, Hornet Women’s Lacrosse student-athlete, has been named to receive the 2022 Tina Sloan Green Award from the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association. That organization is recognizing Ms. Anderson for her role in publicizing the unwarranted search of her team’s bus by Liberty Co. (Ga.) deputy sheriffs in late April, resulting in national media attention on the incident.

On Campus

Sydney Anderson to receive 2022 Tina Sloan Green Award

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

The Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) has named Sydney Anderson, a junior on the Delaware State University women’s lacrosse team, as its 2022 Tina Sloan Green Award recipient.

Anderson will be recognized for her achievements – most notably the pivotal role she played in focusing national attention on an unjust DSU lacrosse team bus search by a Georgia sheriff agency – during the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Hall of Fame and Honors Banquet on Nov. 17 as part of the 2022 IWLCA Convention.

In April during the University lacrosse team’s last road trip of the year, Anderson, along with her teammates and coaches were subjected to an unwarranted search of the bus transport. Deputies of the Liberty County (Ga.) Sherriff’s Office stopped the bus and searched through the players’ personal baggage stored on the bus, but did not find anything illegal.

Anderson, a junior Mass Communications/Journalism major from Bronx, N.Y., documented the encounter in an article published in The Stinging Truth student newspaper at Delaware State University. The article –.entitled “Delaware State Women’s Lacrosse Team Felt Racially Profiled by Police in Georgia,” – went viral like digital wildfire and quickly attracted national attention to the unjust search. Anderson’s article sparked interviews with various media outlets such as The New York Times, CBS, NBC, and CNN, which in turn led to a rally of support throughout the women’s lacrosse community and beyond. Sydney Anderson said although the Liberty Co. incident was traumatic, it made the women's lacrosse team stronger.

Anderson said she is honored to be a recipient of the Tina Sloan Green Award.

“Facing adversity is always a challenge, but it’s how you rise above that challenge that separates you from everyone else,” stated Anderson. “When writing the article about the racial discrimination my teammates and I endured in Liberty County, Georgia, I never envisioned the amount of support and love we would receive.”

She added that while the incident in Georgia was traumatic for the players and coaches, it also had the effect of making the team stronger. Anderson said she will continue to use her journalistic voice to “evoke change for a better, safer, and more equal society.”

After that incident, Anderson interned this past summer with the Black Wall Street Times in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for which she covered issues such as the African American disparities faced in America, 1619 Project to reframe the country’s history concerning the consequences of slavery, police violence, and other topics.

The IWLCA’s Board of Directors created the annual Tina Sloan Green Award in April 2021 to recognize teams or individuals working to promote equity and inclusion. The award is named in honor of Tina Sloan Green, the first black head coach in the history of women’s intercollegiate lacrosse, who guided Temple University to three National Championships, amassed a .758 career win percentage and was inducted into the IWLCA’s first Hall of Fame class in 2017.

University Head Lacrosse Coach Pamella Jenkins will present the award to Anderson at the Nov. 17 IWLCA event in Dallas, Texas.