This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Rochester chapter.
Her Campus caught up with one of Rochester’s latest All-American’s Madison Wagner, also known around campus as Field Hockey’s star goalie. Madison a member of the class of 2014 is from Pittsburgh, and a biology major.
1. How did you get into field hockey? Were you always a goalie?
- I didn’t feel like playing soccer anymore and my parents said I had to play a sport to stay active. Plus a lot of my friends played which made it fun. Yes I have always been a goalie. I was roped into it by my first coach because I had played soccer previously and knew how to kick a ball.
2. What was your greatest success in high school field hockey?
- For my high school, going to the WPIAL championship. But for my club team, qualifying and attending the National Indoor Tournament.
3. Were you recruited here? What made you choose Rochester and where else were you looking?
- Yes I was recruited here. I chose Rochester because of the coaching staff, the beautiful campus with matching brick buildings and the field sitting in the center (or almost in the center), and the wide range of science curricula. I was also looking at Dickinson College, Connecticut College, Amherst, St. Lawrence, and other small schools.
4. What were you anticipating for this year at the end of last season, especially after losing two All-Americans?
- I was just hoping to win one more game than last year (14 wins) and make it into the Liberty League tournament because we had missed it by only a game and a fraction of a game my first two years.
5. You guys had such a successful season, did anything change? rituals? practice? friendships?
- I don’t think too much changed except for we played a more cohesive style of game this year, including everyone on the field and a lot of passing instead of a dribbling game. We kept the same pre-game rituals but added a few to get us focused and excited to play. We have always been best friends with each other, both past and present teams so I don’t think friendships necessarily changed but we did have combinations of girls on the field that play very well together because they are very close friends and understand each others style of play. We did go into the season with a goal to think about each game one at a time and not envision future games until they come to us and I think this definitely helped us knock off our opponents. We also all worked very hard in the off season and came back extremely fit and determined to get a starting position.
6. What was your reaction when you found out you were going to the ncaa tournament?
- Hahahah I cried immediately and dropped to the floor and just sat there for a few minutes. Then I hugged Katie Flaschner. I will never forget the call from my coach.
7. What was your best moment during the season?
- Beating Skidmore for the first time on Fauver!! Then beating Skidmore again on Fauver and having all of the athletes there who stormed the field after the victory!! Then beating Rowan, I felt like I was in a dream. There are way too many best moments! Statistically my best game was against #4 Salisbury in the second round of the NCAA when I made 18 saves.
8. How did the team handle when you eventually lost and what are your plans going forward into next year?
- Obviously a lost stinks and we were all upset because we hate loosing and we knew we could have beaten Montclair, we held them to a 1-0 score until the last 7 minutes of the game when they put in a fluke goal. We didn’t sulk for long though and many smiles were on the sideline when the buzzer rang just because we were and are so proud of how far we have come this season as a team, the records we broke, and upsets we had, especially because we didn’t have high expectations of making it as far as we did and some of us even thought of this year as a rebuilding year. We are so proud and happy to finally put Rochester on the map. I think going forward into next year we all know what it takes to get into the tournament and to be a top team so we are all focused on getting our selves individually there so that we can compete again with the other top teams.
9. How does it feel to be an ALL-AMERICAN?!?!?!
- Hahah surreal