Spring Break
Lax is still just a game for level-headed veteran
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Meagan Voight, SENIOR ATTACKER
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When Meagan Voight used to watch her older sisters play lacrosse in her old neighborhood, she wanted to play too because it looked like fun. So Voight, now a senior, grabbed a stick and signed up for a recreational league team with her sisters.
"At first, I just wanted to be around my sisters and see what they were doing. It started out with me just trying to tag along with them," Voight said. "But once I first started playing, it was so much fun. I just loved playing lacrosse and still get that same sense of excitement when I play now."
Despite just claiming to be having a good time, the senior attacker contributed a career-high five goals at University of Maryland-Baltimore County to guide the No. 7 Blue Jays to their ninth win last week. Junior attacker Mary Key also joined the scoring barrage with four goals and two assists in a 14-6 rout.
Voight said that she attributes her success this season to the culminating effects of being a senior and a four-year varsity starter.
"Right now, I'm really comfortable on the field. Back in my first year, I was a little more anxious when it came to playing," she said. "Now, it has come to the point where I'm comfortable in executing my role. Then it's also being in the right place to be fed by my teammates."
She said that having a strong bond with her teammates is crucial to maintaining on-field success.
"We all get along so well. We've all developed close bonds as friends, from our time on the field or on the bus traveling to games," she said.
She says the bond that has grown between she and her teammates developed from long bus ride conversations, early morning practices and tough losses.
"I will always remember those long bus rides from a game somewhere and how we would watch a movie together or just sit and talk," she said. "Or there are those memories from drudging out of bed before the sun rises for practice. We all look at each other in the locker room and no one wants to be there. But when you come together like that, it really makes you push harder because you don't just want it for yourself but for your teammates as well."
Voight said that the 14-11 loss against Maryland earlier this month could have been disastrous for the previously undefeated, highly-ranked Blue Jays. She recalled how all the women in the locker room supported one another, despite not being able to close a first half deficit.
"We were really excited for that game as a team the whole week leading up to it. This was the first time we really had a shot at beating Maryland," she said. "But afterward, no one blamed one another for the outcome; everyone stayed upbeat and didn't dwell on it."
Instead of just scoring goals, Voight prefers to see herself as the level-headed veteran, keeping the team's composure together in practice and on game day.
"I see myself as always being calm, keeping everyone settled, and being open-minded enough for people to come to me with problems," Voight said. "Communication and leadership skills are crucial on the lacrosse field, just as they are in the business arena, which is where I see myself after my career ends."
Just like the third grader who started playing lacrosse for fun with her older sisters, the soon-to-be graduating senior hopes to stay around the game.
"I still talk to my high school coach and love going back to my old high school to help out the players and teach them what I know," she said. "Ultimately, I want to stay around the game as long as possible, because lacrosse is so much fun and my favorite thing in the world to do."