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Former Cal standout Kennedy Goss does not look like a typical women's lacrosse player, and she no longer apologizes for it.
 
For years, Goss felt a need to apologize for being bigger and stronger, as well as more aggressive and tenacious, than most of her peers in a sport that doesn't necessarily celebrate those attributes.
 
Also, Goss is African American and typically wears her hair in braids – most of her lacrosse peers aren't and don't.
 
"I was different, and I knew it," Goss said. "I always felt like an outlier. It was hard being the one person who looked like me on the team."
 
Goss seemed to cope relatively well with the scenario as a youth and sometimes even with a sense of humor.
 
"It was great for highlight reels," Goss quipped while flashing her trademark smile. "I did not have to point myself out."
 
But it was not OK, and it did impact her. There was one game in particular when she felt like the world was against her.
 
"I was frustrated and after the game, I went up to my mom and just started crying," Goss said. "The tears were streaming down my face. I just felt like I was trying to play the sport I loved so much, but it wasn't loving me back."
 
Jennifer Goss' response is something her daughter recalls vividly to this day.
 
"She just told me that this was who I am and what I was called to be," Goss said. "She said to continue to do it, continue to grow and shine, and to do so unapologetically, and that at the end of the day people will look at my greatness."
 
"When your child is broken like that, it hurts. But it's also an opportunity for truth," Jennifer Goss said. "I told her there will always be haters but never allow them to define you. You have a gift; let it speak for itself."
 
The seed had been planted for Goss to be her authentic self, but there was plenty of work to do.
 
She seemed to be following the same track and field trajectory as her parents a few years earlier until she realized she simply was not enjoying the sport.
 
"When I told my dad, he was like 'What are you going to do?,'" Goss remembered. "He believes that sports teach you valuable lessons about life. He didn't know anything about lacrosse, but he said, 'If you like it, then let's do it.'''
 
Eddie Goss worked with his daughter on her game but simply his presence was more important.
 
"He threw terrible passes, and then he would tell me 'You need to catch that,'" Goss said with a laugh. "But just being able to have that interaction with him was the greatest."
 
"Waking up with Kennedy at 5 a.m. before school three or four days a week was not the easiest thing," Eddie Goss said. "Neither she nor I liked it, but it was a necessary part of the journey."
 
Even though Goss quickly displayed her athletic ability in the game, she was still lightly recruited collegiately, and her best opportunity ended up being an 11th-hour offer from Cal.
 
When Goss arrived in Berkeley in August of 2020, she wanted to fit in with a whole new group of people, but it was an especially challenging time because the team had limited in-person interaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID restrictions eased eventually, and Goss began to adjust to her new lacrosse family 2,500 miles away from home in the Atlanta suburb of Johns Creek, Georgia.
 
"It was a balancing act between learning how to fit in with other people who were not like you and not losing yourself," Goss said. "I struggled with that especially early on at Cal. It wasn't just how I looked but how I thought and how I talked. In my first couple of years at Cal, I was really trying to be like other people. But at the end of the day, that just didn't make me happy. I realized I needed to unapologetically be myself."
 
Goss' productivity on the field improved as she figured out her approach. She was named second-team All-Pac-12 as a sophomore and broke Cal's single-season school record with a career-high 83 draw controls during her 2023 junior campaign. As a senior last season, she added a new role as a starting attacker, scored a career-high 28 points, and again earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors. She finished her career as the school's all-time leader with 280 draw controls.
 
But Goss' progress and accomplishments off the field were arguably even more notable.
 
The Black Student-Athlete Summit she attended in Houston as part of a Cal contingent in the spring of 2022 was a pivotal moment. She became increasingly involved with Cal's Black Student-Athlete Community (BSAC), serving first as creative director before taking on the president's role in her final year at Cal. She was also a speaker at the annual Big C BBQ to start the 2023-24 academic year, a graphic design intern for Cal's Cameron Institute, and took part in the Go Girls, Go Bears, Go Play! event put on by the Cameron Institute.
 
But even more important, Goss won the hearts of the Cal community while still being her authentic self.
 
"Kennedy's unwavering determination and resilience made her a powerhouse who was well-respected and looked up to by our team," teammate Kalena Johnson said.
 
"Kennedy hasn't always had the easiest lacrosse journey, but I'm so proud of her for her growth and contributions to Cal," Golden Bears head coach Jennifer Wong said. "We've been able to have real conversations surrounding race in lacrosse and how to make it better for future generations."
 
After her second-team All-Pac-12 selection at the end of her senior season, Goss added the prestigious Anna Espenchade Award, given to one Cal female student-athlete for her successful integration of academics and athletics.
 
But it was graduation day that topped it all. The Anna Espenchade Award earned the media studies major a seat on the main stage and the young woman who had felt like an outlier was now being recognized at a huge gathering of her peers. She sat amidst University chancellor Carol Christ and many other dignitaries from the nation's top public university, including keynote speaker Cynt Marshall, a Cal alum who became the first Black female CEO of an NBA team with the Dallas Mavericks in 2018.
 
"I have lacrosse to thank for all of this," Goss said. "Sports allow you to shine, and they take you places and put you in rooms that you would never be without them."
 
"We are consistently talking about our lives and the legacy you leave behind being of utmost importance," Eddie Goss said. "At Kennedy's graduation, those conversations came full circle as many school leaders congratulated us for raising Kennedy and specifically commenting on the legacy she was leaving with Cal. Through all the challenges, somehow things like this make it all worthwhile."