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: Can you talk about your student athlete experience so far?
A: It’s definitely been a wild one. I was here during COVID - my freshman year - none of us never really expected anything like that to ever happen so we just got into the beginning of our spring season, and we played a game and literally the next day we went home. That definitely had a lot of challenges coming out of it because at that time I didn’t know if I was going to have an athletic career afterwards, and that’s all I ever wanted was to be a college athlete. When we finally … so far it’s been going well ever since then. It’s been an incredible experience. I’ve played in some incredible games against some amazing female athletes that I look up to and it’s just been an insane experience in all the best ways.
Q: You were a well awarded high school athlete, what was it like transitioning from being essentially an all-star on your team to not a first-year starter?
A: I didn’t really let any of that get to me. It helped me feel more comfortable being on a Division I team … I kinda felt like I belong there but still having that sense of maybe I don’t. I came in as a freshman knowing that I probably wasn’t going to play. Being a goalie, it’s one of those positions where there’s only one of you on the field and there’s multiple people on a team and we had some incredible seniors on our team at that time, so I just did my best to learn from them and take everything in that I can, so when it was my time I could go out and perform on the field. It was definitely a learning curve - it was different going from playing and starting every game for the past two years of high school to being on the sideline supporting my teammates. It was definitely different but still, I wouldn’t change it, I loved it.
Q: You have consistently improved throughout your college career, including a Second Team All-Conference nod last year, what’s the secret?
A: Just staying compose, I think, in big moments. You either buckle or you succeed under pressure. I’ve definitely had the games where I’ve buckled under the pressure, but I just take those moments where I have to learn because we can’t afford, as a team, to have anyone who can’t perform under pressure because that’s just something you have to do in sports. There’s definitely ups and downs as people go through but I think it’s just learning to take your past mistakes and learning and continuing to improve upon them … that’s been one big thing for me is having a short memory like if I have a horrible game, just thinking it happens, you can’t change it now, and going into the next game thinking I know how I can play and I know the type of player I am and I can execute that … that’s been the big thing for me right now.
It’s like if I have a bad game, I know some people are thinking about it but they don’t care … they’re not blaming the game on me. So, you have to understand that no one is going to pin something on you so you can’t pin anything on yourself.
Q: Switching gears a little bit, your dad passed away earlier in the academic year - can you talk about that experience?
A: That was … never thought that was going to happen. He was a big part of all of my family’s life, like if you knew anything about my dad, it was that he was such a big character in life and just who he was. I didn’t think that was a possibility - it was such a freak thing when it happened and it was … it’s like I still can’t understand what happened and it’s been very hard on me and my family. I try to talk to him every day and ask him for help when I need it … he helps me a lot with games. It’s hard but I’m getting through it. It’s something that I wish people didn’t have to go through but unfortunately it is.
Q: Is there anything you would like to say for someone who might be going through the same thing?
A: Yeah - definitely reach out to the people that are around you. You might not feel like it … I know for me, I felt very alone at one point because I was … who else goes through that … A girl who just turned 22 and is in college and doesn't know what they're doing with their life and my dad was such a pivotal part of who I was … It’s hard … just reach out. Because even though people might not have the same exact experience, people are so willing to support and help you through that in any way they can. I've become even more connected with [the people around me] and staying in touch with family that I haven't talked to in years. Just having and recognizing that there are support systems around you, and not being afraid to ask for help when you need it, because there are definitely days where they're darker than others, but you can make it through with the people around you.
Q: Your dad, he was a former NFL player … what was that like?
A: It was really cool. I always say I missed the glory days because I was born the year he retired. My two older siblings - my oldest sister experienced seven years with him in the NFL and my brother got a couple years. My sister was born in New York State because he played with the Jets. My brother and I were born in Pittsburgh, where my whole family's from, but she got to go to Seattle when he went there and stuff like that. And she remembers going to Three River Stadium when the Steelers still played there. It led to a lot of cool experiences growing up as a kid. We'd go to a lot of NFL games and, as a kid you're like, ‘yeah, my dad's an NFL player, blah, blah, blah.’ It was so cool. I met so many incredible players like … Growing up my favorite player was always Dan Marino and he’s a legendary quarterback and my dad played with him at Pitt in college. It's so cool to see. I would just sit and talk to him with stories about people he played against and what games he played in because he played in that prime era of the NFL, like the 80s and the 90s, which is one of the most insane eras with who played and how the game was played. It was really cool … I got to stand on a lot of sidelines of NFL games and stuff like that. It was definitely really cool.
Q: Him being a professional athlete, did that affect how you looked at sports?
A: Yeah, I mean it really wasn't an option for us. We were in everything. My brother … my brother was an outstanding athlete growing up. He was in ice hockey, speed skating, baseball, football, lacrosse, basketball, everything and my sister too - softball and field hockey were her big things. And then, I was in everything too, but lacrosse ended up becoming what I loved. You would think with him being a professional athlete, he would've been very hard on us and stuff like that, but he was very supportive. Like when it came to lacrosse, he was like, ‘I don't know anything about it.’ But he would come and support when he could and make sure he would ask me questions about how I did … not that he really understood. Him being a professional athlete - he knew how important sports can be to someone and how it can be made into a career and how it just helps build people. I think he understood how you can take aspects in sports and put it into your everyday life. So yeah, sports weren't an option, we had to play, but he definitely helped. He wasn't pushing us too hard. He was pretty good about it, and being supportive.
Q: Switching gears again, you're currently a volunteer firefighter. What made you get into that?
A: I don't know … firetrucks are pretty cool. But my uncle … he was [a firefighter in] 9/11. He survived. He was there afterwards. He was a firefighter in Queens for 30+ years and he has three sons that are all currently in FDNY. It was always just one of those things that I thought was so cool and so honorable … like as cheesy it is to say, I always wanted to help people and I never liked the idea of sitting down at a desk and doing an office job. So, it is one way to use my hands and help people and learn incredible things and do incredible things. McKownville such a wonderful department. They're small, but their heart is so big with the family aspect of it and it's just an incredible thing to do. I think most firefighters are volunteers, so it is something that people need, and I know it's something I've always thought of doing. And then, I finally decided to do it my sophomore of college and I've loved it since.
Q: Do you want to do it as a career?
A: That is the current plan. After I graduate, I hope to get in to the FDNY Academy or some other academy, maybe down south just because I don't have to deal with snow anymore. But, it is definitely a career path I want to get into because I just think it's so wonderful and it leads to so many different things.
Q: Should you not end up on the career path, do you think you're going to stick as a volunteer?
A: Oh, definitely. My department's full of people who are professionals … my captain's a lawyer, my one chief's a cop, my other chief's a cop. People have day jobs but then alongside their normal life, they dedicate their life to the fire service and it's something … and you don't get paid for it, but it's just something that you do because you love it and you want to help people. It's a win-win situation I see.
Q: I heard you started a team tradition of walking 110 flights on 9/11. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
A: The 110 flights represent how many floors were in the World Trade Center … if you ever think about that day, you couldn't use elevators. The first responders and people had to get out through the staircases. There was thousands of people going down and all the firefighters and first responders are all going up. And a lot of them entered that stairway and never came out. So, it’s something that a lot of firefighters and people around the country do to symbolize, to never forget, and to understand what they went through to climb 110 flights of stairs. It’s a great exercise to do, but it’s definitely a way to understand what happened and never forget, and to know that these people went in willingly knowing they could lose their life. It’s just a way to commemorate their memories.
Q: Do you think that tradition is going to extend when you graduate?
A: I really hope that it does. I think people will continue to do it. I have a lot of friends who are younger on the team and I think they’ll do it not in honor of me. I always say don't do it for me just because I'm a volunteer firefighter, do it to remember the people who lost their lives and to remember the first responders like this, [climbing up staircases not know if they would come out], that was their job. And I mean, I really hope it continues. I've been doing it for the last three years and I think my coaches would really like to continue to do it too. So, I hope it sticks.
Q: How did the women around you help you to become the athlete and person you are today?
A: I was very fortunate to have pretty good women around me growing up. We always joke how in my family it’s mostly women. My poor brother is one of five and the other four are all girls and my mom's one of four girls; my stepmom's one of five girls … there's women everywhere. So, there was always great role models. My mom is a nurse, so I was looking up to her and just different aspects in that. And I always met wonderful women in sports growing up. I had great coaches in high school and having Katie Thomson as my head coach here - she's one of the most legendary women to ever pick up a stick. So, I’ve had great influences everywhere and I've been very fortunate to have them on my life and impact me positively.
Q: You had all this success in your career and you are still getting better. What does it mean and how does it feel that young women and girls might look up to you because of it?
A: It's definitely a little scary to have the pressure to be a good role model, but I think it's wonderful. I always looked up to certain people grow growing up in a lacrosse world and there weren't that many back then … or because the sport just wasn't well known, [you just didn’t know about them]. There definitely were women that you could have looked up to. So, it's great that the sport's growing and I can be a role model for those younger girls because even some people I've played against recently I've looked up to. We’re playing Syracuse and there's so many women on that team that are incredible and that continue to push the game of women's lacrosse. It's great that it continues and younger girls do have other female athletes to look up to, not just males.
Q: And finally, what does Women's History Month mean to you?
A: It means a lot. I think women still have so many challenges they have to overcome, especially in sports. I mean, even still there's the battle between men’s and women's sports and what's better and there shouldn't be a comparison. It's just sports. I think it raises a lot of awareness in how women fight so hard to get seen and to be recognized as a legitimate athlete and so many different things that women can accomplish and have accomplished throughout history. Just to be surrounded by women that have done things like that and to continue to learn and to respect the history and do great things [is empowering].
For more interviews from the Women's History Month #GreatWomenGreatDanes series, click here.
