Beyond this upcoming school year, 23 year-old Cloé Douillette has little idea of precisely where she will be.

Up to this point, however, in both life and lacrosse, this “let’s see where things go” attitude has served her well. And just to be clear, it’s not as though the long-time standout netminder with the Sudbury Rockhounds in her youth is meandering aimlessly from one day to the next.

It’s far more a question of options and opportunities – some of which may yet to have been unveiled.

What is known to date?

The youngest of two girls in a very athletic family – father (Benoit) played football with the Ottawa Gee Gees and older sister Arielle recently completed her OUA basketball career at Laurentian – Cloé also ventured off to the University of Ottawa, completing her undergraduate degree in Sciences de la Santé in the spring of 2025.

She is now halfway through her Teachers College program in French in Sudbury, a definite priority as teaching, as a career option, is not only a solid fit for the young woman who has coached and officiated plenty in recent years, but is also the long-term plan – for as much as a long-term plan exists.

Lacrosse might yet have something to say about that – at least in the short-term.

Douillette was one of the many whose senior high-school years were curtailed by the arrival of Covic-19, with athletics still in the midst of regaining traction in the fall of 2021 as she made her way to the nation’s capital.

“During Covid, I had stopped playing and I really wasn’t thinking about playing lacrosse in Ottawa,” said Douillette. “Then one day, I was in the gym, wearing a lacrosse short and a girl approached me and said they were starting a (club field lacrosse) team at U of O.”

For as much as Douillette possessed little to no background in the field game, many are those in these parts who have made the transition with a few notable adjustments to their game. That also holds true for lacrosse goaltenders, albeit for completely different reasons entirely.

“In box lacrosse, we’re used to stepping in front of the ball,” said Douillette. “In field lacrosse, you’re catching it – and you don’t have the same equipment.” In fact, where the armament of a box lacrosse goalie has a look that would make a medieval knight proud, field lacrosse netminders have relatively little protection – even less in the women’s game.

“The first few months of me playing, I was very much bruised up,” said Douillette. “My body took a toll when I started.”

That start, however, began to open doors.

Her field lacrosse coach in Ottawa also coached a junior team in Gloucester – and while their squad was not in need of a talented ball stopper, the crew out in Nepean certainly could use one. Connections in women’s lacrosse begets more and more connections – and before you knew it, Douillette had added a pair of summer stints with the Kingston Cannons of the WMSL (Women’s Major Series Lacrosse) to her resumé.

With the Kingston entry taking a one summer hiatus in 2026, Douillette finds herself backstopping the powerhouse Whitby Rush, winners of seven of their first eight games and trailing only the defending champion Mimico Mountaineers in the 11-team loop.

The name of the northern Ontario lass is not terribly difficult to locate on the league’s statistical page. Douillette leads the WMSL in wins (6) and shutouts (2), is third in goals against average (2.29) and tied for the league lead in game appearances (7).

Her re-immersion to the game that allowed Douillette to don the jersey of Team Ontario in her younger years would now expose her to new potential outlets, having tried out for the Canadian entry that competed at the 2024 World Box Lacrosse Championships in Utica, New York. No less than ten teams from around the world participated in the women’s draw, including representation from Ireland, Finland, Hong Kong, Germany and Australia.

But it’s rumblings of France entering that mix that most intrigues Douillette, given her French heritage. In fact, her father actually travelled to the land of Les Bleus to participate in sixes lacrosse outings as a pre-teen.

“That’s kind of the exciting part, just seeing where all of this leads,” she said. It certainly has been a most interesting journey so far for the woman who prides herself in standing tall as the last line of defense.