TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

It was a great experience, not only playing with my friends Mandi (Amanda Courteau) and Andrea (Vescio); it was nice to play with different players in a different system. It was the first time they (the St. Catherines Jets) won the Ontario Cup in all of the years they have been playing together, so it was great to be a part of that.

2. The first six matches your team has played have all been in the Buffalo area, either at home, at Canisius or at Niagara, is it good to finally go on the road and have a chance to bond as a team?

I think that it’s a catch-22, going on the road and traveling with our core group of girls is really great because we get to spend time with those girls that we are going to be playing with, but at the same time it’s a disadvantage because we play on turf here (at UB Stadium) so when we travel and play on grass sometimes that is a disadvantage. So I think that traveling can be good for the team and it can be bad for the team.

3. In UB Stadium you play matches on the turf. What is it like playing soccer on the turf and do you think that if gives you an advantage over teams that typically play on grass?

I love the turf; I would play on the turf everyday if that were the opportunity we had. I think that it gives us an advantage because we like to play quick, we like to play fast and when we are home that is an advantage because we are the only team in the MAC who’s home field is turf. But, like I said, it’s a disadvantage because when we go on the road the grass slows our game down and it’s an advantage to our opponents because they play and train on grass all of the time.

4. You are the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) President. Can you talk about how you got involved in that and what your role is as president?

I got involved in SAAC as a freshman because somebody forced me to go to a meeting. Even though I was involved in that type of stuff in high school, I didn’t think that as a freshman I would have enough time to do all of those things, but being in SAAC has given be a lot of opportunities, so I’m glad that somebody dragged be there in the first place. I think that my role as president, I’m the chairperson of the committee and I think that I’m the liaison between the administration and the athletes. Anything that needs to go from the administration to the athletes, or vice versa, goes through me, so I’m the link between the head honchos and us (the student-athletes).

5. You attended the NCAA Leadership Conference in Orlando, FL this past May, what was that experience like?

The NCAA Leadership Conference was probably one of the best experiences I have had in my entire life. I was actually kind of dreading it, because you are going all by yourself with a bunch of people you don’t know for four days. But I learned so much about myself and how I lead and how to lead others. You take that way past sports, way past the field, on top of that I met really great people and made really great connections. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

6. How did your experience at the NCAA Leadership Conference help you know that you are a senior and a leader on your team?

I think that through that experience (the NCAA Leadership Conference), along with the three years that I have been on the team, the biggest thing that I have learned is how to lead other people. I think that I was always like “this is how I like to be led so this is the way I lead,” but there are people that are motivated differently and like different things. So I think that is the biggest thing that I learned, how to lead others and how to get others to respond to you.

7. You have twice been chosen as the Most Improved Player on your team, what areas of your game do you think have improved the most since you have been at UB?

I think that my decision-making on the ball, being able to receive a ball and know what I’m going to do with it as soon as possible, has improved greatly. My understanding of the game, coach (Jean-A. Tassy) is very adamant about teaching the game, not just going out to play and score goals, that’s what we want to do of course but he is adamant that we learn the game, learn the runs and learn to play. So I think that my knowledge of the game and how it should be played and what I should do is what has improved the most.

8. Sometimes in these ten questions we ask student-athletes what other sport they would play if they had the opportunity. But you did that you played softball last spring. What was that experience like and how did that come about?

I played softball in the spring because they were going through a tough time with a lot of injuries. So I came out to run for them and I ended up playing in the field a little more than I anticipated. They just asked me to play, I played with a few of the girls in high school, like Dana Carter, and so she knew that I had some skill at softball. It was a good experience, it was interesting to play and practice with a different team, but I enjoyed it.

9. Do you have a pre-game routine and, if so, what is it?

I like to listen to my iPod; I’m in the training room for an hour trying to get warmed up. I chest bump with Courtney MacVie and I always pray right before the game.

10. Favorite moment so far at UB?

I think my favorite moment at UB was the weekend of my junior year when we swept Western Michigan and Northern Illinois. We needed those two games to get into the playoffs, unfortunately we didn’t do what we needed to they next weekend, but we needed those two games. My parents were there, it was my brother’s alma mater, he went to Western Michigan, so my whole family was there to see my play and I scored two goals and had an assist, so it was a big weekend for me. I think that weekend that, as a team, winning those games was probably my best moment so far at UB.