Photos by Hana Isihara ’17
For fall sport athletes, the summer is by no means a vacation. The summertime is when you kick it into overdrive and push your body to its limits so that when the time comes, you’re the one scoring the top shelf goal, diving into the endzone, catching the ball by your fingertips, or making a sprawling save. Every sprint you run and every weight you lift makes you even more motivated to bring a Patriot League Championship back to Lafayette. It can be difficult balancing a summer job or internship with your training, but for two members of the women’s soccer it was a walk in the park.
Allie Torru ‘16 and Sam Potoczak ‘16 were just two of five players who decided to stick around Easton for the summer. Maddy Murray ‘16, Alyssa Finelli ‘15 and Shannon Hartzel ‘16 were also on campus. Torru and Potoczak had summer internships for a local company down in the circle owned by Zeke Zelker, an entrepreneur and filmmaker. Torru was a marketing and advertising intern while Potoczak was placed in production and casting, visiting Philadelphia and New York City on some occasions.
The girls agreed that in terms of soccer, living on campus was extremely beneficial. The men’s soccer players who were also on campus for the summer would join in on training sessions.
“We were playing pickup on the turf every other day,” Potoczak said. “The guys playing with us a helped a lot and really sped up the game. Sometimes we would just be messing around with the ball but other times we were getting into it and really playing.”
The duo also dabbled in a summer league team called Sonic, playing with girls from other Patriot League schools like Lehigh and Colgate.
Torru noted it was easier to workout with a teammate by her side.
“You know you have to do your part for preseason because you have your teammates here with you,” Torru said. “I definitely felt better prepared than most people just because we touched the ball every day.”
The team started off the season on a positive note with an overall record of 2-1. The Leopards came out of this past weekend’s trip to Florida 1-1 with a win over North Florida and a loss to Jacksonville. Torru and Potoczak agree that the team is coming together well this year, attributing it to everyone’s hard work during the summer.
“Even in warm ups before games this year we would be doing these intense things- in a good way- it’s never been like this before,” said Potoczak.
The Leopards play at Manhattan tonight and then take on Binghamton this Sunday for their first home game of the season.
