Full Great Women Great Danes Interview Transcript
UAlbany's Great Women Great Danes is a new series that will be published during Women's History Month. The series will feature Great Danes, past and present, and celebrate the women of UAlbany.
Q: As a student-athlete, you were a successful lacrosse player at Syracuse, can you tell me about your experience?
A: I was really fortunate to play lacrosse at Syracuse University. It was such an amazing experience because I got to learn from the best. I had amazing coaches through my career at Syracuse and incredible teammates to really push the level. In my junior year, we reached the Final Four for the first time in school history. That was a really special accomplishment for our team and the program.
Q: What was your Final Four experience like?
A: The Final Four, the whole championship weekend experience, is truly like no other. It’s always the goal every season to make it to that weekend and my junior year at SU, we were fortunate to have had the opportunity to go. We beat UNC at home for the first time to make it and to get there was really a dream come true. The NCAA committee does a fantastic job hosting the teams. We were down at Towson University and everyone makes you feel so special. We (the student-athletes) have an opportunity to get together with all the teams the night before the games and it’s so amazing to celebrate all of the successes of all of the teams. When we’re on the field, we’re fierce competitors, but off the field, it was really a celebration of all the successes of everyone and we really got to support each other.
Q: After you had gotten through that season and the final awards had been given out, you had become a three-time First-Team All-American, what did that feel like?
A: I was really proud to have those honors but I can’t say enough about my teammates and coaches because those individual successes don’t come without the team. Women’s lacrosse, and lacrosse in general, is really a game about healing. It’s the creators' game, the medicine game and it’s really a celebration of the whole team and all of the successes. I wouldn’t be where I was without the team.
Q: You are still listed in the NCAA Division I record book - fourth in career-scoring, third in career-assists - you hold the single-season record for points from 2008. What did it feel like to get to that point? How do you bring that experience into coaching?
A: I had incredible coaches throughout my career at Syracuse. I was recruited by Lisa Miller, who was my coach for the first two seasons, and then she got a dream job for her at Harvard University. In my junior year, Gary Gait was hired, and he is known as the best lacrosse player of all time. He is just a creative mind and he really changed a lot for myself and the team - like how we played and the skill work. I learned so much from him; I feel like I jumped to the next level from his coaching. Junior year was really special for our program because that was the year we made it to the Final Four. We were just like sponges learning from Gary and our staff, we had a lot of success because of that. Now as a coach, I take all of what I’ve learned over the years as a player from having incredible coaches at Syracuse and at the US level. I created my own philosophy from that and I love to use what I learned as a player to teach and coach my players now.
Q: After graduation, you started playing professionally, can you tell me about your journey throughout the years?
A: After completion of university, I was selected for the US National Team. It’s such an honor to have played in two World Cups with Team USA. In 2009, we traveled to Prague in the Czech Republic and we won the gold over Australia; it was just such an incredible experience. The world championship is incredible because you’re bringing people from all over the world together and, again, it’s just such a celebration of the sport. We compete on the field but off the field, we get to know the other teams and learn about new cultures and really support each other. It was an incredible experience. In 2013, I played in the world championships in Oshawa, Ontario, where we won the gold over Canada. It was, again, such an incredible experience to play with athletes that play from all different universities. We all came together to achieve the goal of winning. That really elevated my game and my thinking as a coach. I learned so many new things under my staff but also from the team. It helped me become the coach I am today.
Q: How did the women around you help you to become the athlete and the woman you are today?
A: I have been so fortunate to be surrounded by incredible females. I played with such strong and amazing athletes and people. I would not be the player or the person I am today without the ladies and the females that I’ve been surrounded with. They are so inspiring and they push me to be the best that I can be.
Q: How many years have you been coaching women’s lacrosse?
A: I have been coaching women’s lacrosse since 2010. I started as a volunteer coach at SU while I received my master’s in education. I’ve been coaching full-time ever since 2011 when I started as an assistant coach at UAlbany. Followed by an assistant coach at Syracuse and then I was given the opportunity to be a head coach at Wagner College before coming to UAlbany in 2018. I've been coaching for 13 years in total.
Q: In your coaching career, you have had multiple opportunities to bring your teams to the NCAA Tournament. What do you attribute that success to?
A: It’s been incredible to have opportunities to go to the NCAA tournament multiple times in my career and I attribute that success to the willingness and the coachability of the players that I have had the privilege of coaching. Everyone has just wanted to play at such a high level and learn and grow. I feel as though I’ve been given so many great opportunities to work with amazing staffs at all of the institutions that I’ve been at. We have all had the same outlook and philosophies being that we wanted to push our players to be the best they can be on and off the field.
Q: In recent events, Syracuse has retired your jersey. What does it mean to be one of, if not the best, women’s lacrosse players to come out of Syracuse University?
A: I’m really honored to be receiving the honor of having the 21 jersey retired at Syracuse University for the women’s lacrosse program. I am so proud of being an alumni of the University and to have played women’s lacrosse under Gary Gait and Lisa Miller. I think it says a lot that the Syracuse University Athletic Department is honoring women in sport and to be one of three women this year being honored in this way with the jersey retirement is really special. This honor is truly an honor and celebration of all the women who have played before and after me at Syracuse and all of the contributions of every player at Syracuse are really celebrated with this retirement. I would not be in this position without my teammates or my coaches.
Q: You had all this success in your career, how does it feel to have young women and girls look up to you?
A: It’s really a privilege and a huge responsibility to be a role model to my players now and to youth players. It’s a responsibility I don’t take lightly. I always try to carry myself in a really professional and compassionate manner. I love building relationships with my players and with youth players. I work a lot of camps and just want to keep growing the game for the future of the sport. This responsibility as a mentor and a teacher of the game is really near and dear to my heart and something I’m really passionate about.
Q: What does Women’s History Month mean to you?
A: Women’s History Month means a great deal to me. It's a celebration of women and all of the accomplishments that might get overlooked. It’s really exciting to be able to honor women not just in this month but all year long and it’s really special to be able to celebrate women in sport and all their accomplishments.
For more interviews from the Women's History Month #GreatWomenGreatDanes series, click here.
