Senior athlete commits dedicate to playing next level

With over twenty seniors committed to playing a sport in college, we asked a few to reflect on their high school sports careers and what they most look forward to.
Senior athlete commits dedicate to playing next level
Ava Yancey (Stony Brook University for Lacrosse)
Ava+Yancey+%28Stony+Brook+University+for+Lacrosse%29

What made you decide to commit to Stony Brook University for lacrosse? Were you originally planning to commit there for the sport? 

“My junior year, I decided that I wanted to play and continue lacrosse in college. June 1 was when I got reached out by a lot of different colleges, and I went on tons of different visits. When I went to Stony Brook, I really felt like I was at home. I liked the atmosphere, I liked the coaches and the people I will be playing with next year. I loved being around them. So that’s why I chose Stony Brook.” 

What has been the most memorable or enjoyable part of your high school athletic career, and why? 

“I wouldn’t say there’s a favorite moment. There’s definitely favorite moments. The feeling after winning a game and just celebrating with your team’s is one of the best feelings and just the people, that’s the best moment around.” 

What are you most looking forward to about playing lacrosse in college? 

“Meeting new people, being able to play with a new different team, and continuing winning and seeing how far I can get with that.” 

What will you miss most about playing lacrosse at the high school level here at Haven? 

“Definitely Strath Haven, like wearing that jersey. Playing for Haven is such a big honor. I love Haven so much, like leaving, that’s definitely going to be hard. My last game will definitely be hard for me.” 

What challenges might you face when switching from high school athletics to college?

“When I go into college, I’m playing with people that are in their high 20s, like older kids. As a goalie, I’ll be facing people who have way more power in their shots. And going in as just a freshman, there’s people better than you and you got to deal with that.” 

What are some of your goals or hopes for playing lacrosse as a college student? 

“I mean, there’s four other goalies there, so I want to go in and try to start. We’ll see. That’s one of my goals. Win a championship.”

What advice do you want to give to underclassmen or other student-athletes who might be considering playing in college? 

“If you’re considering playing a sport, just never give up, like things come and things happen for a reason. You’ll get to where you need to go. There’s always a college that reaches out to you, just continue to do what you have to do and always work hard. And they’ll see that.” 

Are there any people or sort of inspiration that helped you get to this place today as an athlete that you would like to shout out or thank? 

“My parents and my coaches and my teachers. I shout them all out. They stuck with me. They helped me get through the process of committing.” 

Marco Kaufman (Dickinson College for football)
Marco+Kaufman+%28Dickinson+College+for+football%29

What made you decide to commit to Dickinson College for football? Were you originally planning to commit there for the sport? 

I was originally thinking about playing lacrosse. Basically, just when I went up on my visit to Dickinson, I loved all the people there. It’s very academic, and I loved the coaches.”

What has been the most memorable or enjoyable part of your high school athletic career, and why? 

“Probably when we won the District Champs, and I was with all my friends. That probably made me love football a lot more.”

What are you most looking forward to about playing football in college? 

“Probably meeting all the guys, creating new friends, creating new relationships, and winning games up there.”

What challenges might you face when switching from high school athletics to college?

“I will just say, it’s gonna be a challenge that I’m going up against 22, 23 year olds. With that comes the weightlifting and being bigger and stuff like that, that’s gonna be a challenge. So I’m gonna have to work at that, and just try and stay in the weight room as much as I can. And yeah, just learning all the new defenses, so gotta keep my brain as well as getting bigger.”

What are some of your goals or hopes for playing football as a college student? 

“Basically just get bigger, get faster, hopefully see some playing time my freshman year, and just continue to grow.” 

Are there any people or inspiration that helped you get to this place today as an athlete that you would like to shout out or thank? 

“I’ll probably just acknowledge every single one of my teammates, my defensive coach, Coach Mike Connor, and Coach Clancy.” 

Sofia Anderson (Towson University for Tennis)
Sofia+Anderson+%28Towson+University+for+Tennis%29

What made you decide to commit to Towson University for tennis? Were you originally planning to commit there for the sport? 

“I knew that I wanted to play college tennis since I was nine. It’s just something that I’ve dedicated, like, my whole childhood to, and Towson was just a good fit academically and athletically. It was just a good environment, the team was inviting, and super competitive.” 

What has been the most memorable or enjoyable part of your high school athletic career, and why? 

“At Strath Haven, probably my favorite memories are how our team qualified for Districts every year that I was here. Like even when I was hurt my senior year and I didn’t play, our team is still really good, and we did it. And that’s a good memory to have with Mr. Perella because I think that was our longest streak of doing that.” 

What are you most looking forward to about playing tennis in college? 

“I’m excited to have more flexibility with my schedule, because we’re already planning our classes around practices and matches. I’m excited for the environment with the team. There’s a lot of freshmen coming in, so we’re just going to work through it together and travel every weekend.” 

What will you miss most about playing tennis at the high school level here at Haven? 

“Probably just the environment. We had a lot of fun on the bus rides and stuff, and college is going to be a lot more serious and a lot more time taken up. But it’s still going to be fun, just different than high school.”

What challenges might you face when switching from high school athletics to college?

“I think balancing academics and athletics. I’m attending the Honors College, starting as a freshman, and our season does start in the fall, but our main one is in the spring, so it’s going to be a good warm-up, I think, just to start all of it right away. It’s going to be overwhelming if you don’t stay on top of it.” 

What are some of your goals or hopes for playing tennis as a college student? 

“Honestly, I don’t have that many expectations going into it. It is my dream to play for a Division One team. So it’s definitely going to be challenging, especially as an underclassmen coming in, but I’m just hoping to play as much as I can and improve as much as possible.” 

What advice do you want to give to underclassmen or other student-athletes who might be considering playing in college? 

“I would say just for sports in general, don’t compare yourself to others. Coming from someone who grew up playing an individual sport, I played singles for Strath Haven all four years– you can’t compare yourself to other people because everyone’s on their own journey, and everyone will get injured at some point, but as long as you stick to the elements in your control, then you can go as far as you want.” 

Are there any people or sort of inspiration that helped you get to this place today as an athlete that you would like to shout out or thank? 

“I’ve had a lot of great coaches growing up. I would say my parents, my dad has been especially traveling with me to tournaments since I was in fifth grade. And also Mr. Perella because he believed in me, even when I came in as a freshman during COVID and everything.”

Rylie Hall (Sacred Heart University for Rowing)
Rylie+Hall+%28Sacred+Heart+University+for+Rowing%29

What made you decide to commit to Sacred Heart University for rowing? Were you originally planning to commit there for the sport? 

“I really liked the atmosphere when I was on the visit, and I really liked the coaches and the team. I feel like it will be a really good fit for next year.” 

What has been the most memorable or enjoyable part of your high school athletic career, and why? 

“I would say when I first started rowing full-time, because it made me get a lot better, and made me bond with the team and my friends. That’s when all the memories started, and it got really fun from there.” 

What are you most looking forward to about rowing in college?

“I would definitely say growth as an athlete. With the level of training, it will be a good experience, and I’m excited to go to new races, race against my friends, who are also in college.” 

What will you miss most about rowing at the high school level? 

“I will definitely miss that there wasn’t a lot of stress put on it. It was just a lot of fun.”  

What challenges might you face when switching from high school athletics to college? 

“I would answer the same thing: the level of training, and specifically learning how to manage it [Division 1 training]. But I’m really excited, because of just the level of things you can do.” 

What are some of your goals or hopes for rowing as a college student? 

“To be in the top boat, and to be one of the best.” 

What advice do you want to give to underclassmen or other student-athletes who might be considering playing in college? 

“I would say put yourself out there with the recruiting process, because coaches will look for you, and they’re looking for athletes, but if you put yourself out there, you’re making it easier for those coaches to find you.” 

Were there any people or sort of inspiration that helped you get to this place today as an athlete that you would like to shout out or thank? 

“I would say the seniors from last year who were on my team. They don’t go to our school, but a lot of them are going Division 1, too, so it’s sort of an “if they could do it, I can do it too, type of thing.” 

Matt Kane (Rowan University for Baseball)
Matt+Kane+%28Rowan+University+for+Baseball%29

What made you decide to commit to Rowan University for baseball? Were you originally planning to commit there for the sport? 

“So, I went on a campus visit there. I really loved it. I really loved everything about it. I loved the coaching staff, I loved the campus in general, and they had my major of education, which I was really excited about, so it just was the spot for me.” 

What has been the most memorable or enjoyable part of your high school athletic career, and why? 

“Definitely, our huge state playoff run last year was a lot of fun, playing all the games, spending a lot of time with the guys. You know, there’s memories that you’ll always remember, even when you get older, and I’m really looking forward to hopefully another one this year, making those same memories with a bunch of new guys. I’m really looking forward to that.” 

What are you most looking forward to about playing baseball in college?

“Definitely the huge play-offs, like I love playing in a big atmosphere, and I think the college level is just going to expand that even more– more high intense games, high intense situations. So I’m really looking forward to playing at the next level.” 

What will you miss most about playing baseball at the high school level here at Haven?

“Definitely, just the little things like spending quality time with the guys that you’ve grown up with, the guys you went to school with since you were a little kid, the coaches. The coaching staff has been great– Coach Fili, Coach Kane, Coach Splain, Katsem. All the guys that have helped me and our team be the type of team that we are.”

What challenges might you face when switching from high school athletics to college? 

“Definitely restarting the standard just because I’ll be a freshman again, and I’ll be playing with guys– some guys in their fifth years, sixth year, where they’re basically grown men. So it’ll definitely be an interesting perspective change to be the youngest again, but I’m really looking forward to that challenge.” 

What are some of your goals or hopes for running track and cross country as a college student? 

“Baseball-wise, definitely trying to get on the field right away, working hard this summer to be able to play as a freshman, which is definitely a little bit of a challenge, but I’m really looking forward to that.” 

What advice do you want to give to underclassmen or other student athletes who might be considering playing in college? 

“I would definitely, definitely tell them to do it. Hard work is such a big thing, like, you might not be the most talented, but the harder you work, the harder that you want to get better. The results really do show for them, so I would definitely say that.”

Were there any people or sort of inspiration that helped you get to this place today as an athlete that you would like to shout out or thank? 

“I would definitely say my dad. Ever since I was a little kid, I could always remember him encouraging me to play baseball, and just continuing that journey. So I don’t really know what I would do without him on this journey.” 

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Evelynn Lin '25
Evelynn Lin '25, Editor-in-Chief
Evelynn is a junior at Strath Haven High School, and this is her second year writing for the publication. When she is not busy on the ground taking pictures of fun events or grinding away at articles, she can be found listening to music, taking long walks, studying for school, dancing, making bubble tea, and hanging out with friends.
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Jillian is a senior and this is her third year on Panther Press! She is the Sports Editor, and outside of Panther Press, she is a Silks captain, does Speech and Debate, and listens to music!!
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