Liz "Voldemort"'s Senior Words of Wisdom

If you had told me four years ago that I would be at the point in my life I am now I would have thought you were crazy. I would never have been able to fathom that I would play such a part in helping a then 2 year program win its first conference title and make its first trip to the NCAAs, let alone Captain the team to the same fate the following year.
When I was a freshman I was the quiet kid in the corner. Most of my classmates broke out of their shell the day they got here; some never even had a shell. Me, it took me a good two years to break out of my shell. I did get a few cracks along the way though. I still remember the first time I “took someone out.” We were doing a goalie bumping drill and Meris was filling in as our goalie. I knocked her over. Later, on an away trip where I was making my first collegiate start, Meris told me to do to W&J what I did to her. I remember running off the field at the end of the game and saying “Meris that was for you!” It was like Tom Riddle’s first dabbles into the Dark Arts ;) I can recall a few more moments when my shell started to crack, I called out Katie Mo for wearing her shorts backwards (on multiple occasions), and each and every time I knocked someone over during a game (which started happening more and more often) put another little crack in my shell.
Overall it was on our trip to Argentina when it all fell away. It was on this trip, as most of you know and saw at the banquet, that I took our Jess Reed. I guess you could say there’s no going back after that. While on a walk through Buenos Aires with Kara and Hillary, we got in a heated discussion about Harry Potter, it was during this time that Hillary decided I was our teams Voldemort (she was Harry as she had a scar on her leg that itched when I got close :) ). As I broke out off the field, I started to break out on the field too. My summer play had helped boost my skills and my confidence in them. My parents no longer cringed when I got the ball, and I knew no one on the other team would get the ball past me. During my junior year we had to fill out self-evaluations, and I was one of few people that actually checked “No-one in my conference is better than me.” I set high personal goals for myself that year, I wanted to score a goal and I wanted to receive end of season honors from the Empire 8.
My senior year it all came together. I was nervous coming in; we had lost such a talented group of girls the previous year. I knew we could and would do it all again, but it would take a lot of hard work. Seeing our freshman at camp helped ease my nerves. I could see the potential in all of them. During the season, we had our struggles, but I am so proud of everything that we overcame. In having previously won the Empire 8 Championship, and being voted to win again, we had a huge target on our back. Not only that but we were voted higher in the Coaches Poll than we had ended our season. Now, not only were our conference foes gunning for us, but EVERYONE was. In the end, we pulled through. We beat Montclair; we beat Rowan; we beat every team in our conference; we beat some twice and we won the Empire 8 Championship again. On our own turf. I couldn’t have asked for a better senior year. To be able to help the team accomplish so much, and to help lead the team to such accomplishments, meant a lot to me. Not only did we do great things as a team, personally I had achieved my goals. I scored my first goal (in my entire life!) against Hartwick, in double overtime, in the game that decided who would host the E8 tournament. And at the end of the season, I received second-team honors.
As I look back over my time here, I know I will never forget it. I have found confidence in myself that I will never lose, I have learned to follow, I have learned to lead, I have learned to get along with so many different personalities, I have learned to make friends with people I wouldn’t have imagined I would (Ellyn :) ), but most importantly I have learned who I am and how I got here and I will never forget that. I have great memories, from Halloween costumes (some won Ipods!), trips to other countries, trips to other states (we are one of the few teams here that wouldn’t give up our long road weekends for anything), weird voices, funny quotes, random dress up practices (Mexican Fiesta anybody?) and every person that I have been able to call a teammate and friend. It’s hard to go away to college, but having awesome teammates makes it easier. In fact it makes it hard to have to leave college. Thankfully some of my teammates have become my best friends who will start the next part of my journey with me, and I know I can shoot any of my teammates or coaches an email, text, or facebook wall posting whenever I need help or just want to keep in touch.