Senior captain Sophia Schiavo is a woman of many talents. Coming from a sports-filled household where her mom played lacrosse and her dad played football and baseball, it was almost Schiavo’s destiny to get involved with sports.
When the athlete finally decided to carry out her prophecy, she chose a sport that neither of her parents played: Softball. That was until she was in eighth grade when her mother asked her to try another sport and spread her horizons.
Listening to her mother’s advice, she tried field hockey and basketball. Schiavo enjoyed playing such sports but didn’t fall in love with them. It was lacrosse that would eventually steal her heart.
“My mom played lacrosse here, so through her and the support of my parents… Lacrosse is really big in my hometown, so being in that environment from middle school and all through high school instilled that love for the sport,” Schiavo said.
It became clear to the multi-sport athlete that since she loved the game so much, she was going to have to retire from other sports to give lacrosse her 100 percent focus.
“I actually played lacrosse at first to get in shape for field hockey, but then the love for lacrosse overshadowed field hockey so I just decided to stick with that,” Schiavo said.
As the defensive star became more acclimated into her role and excelled at playing, she began to turn her focus to where she wanted to play at the collegiate level, and for her, the decision was as easy as deciding what she wanted for breakfast on game day.
“So both my parents went here,” Schiavo said. “They were both student-athletes here, so that kind of was a big deciding factor and the coaches reached out to me in my junior year of high school and I loved their vibe, plus I live five minutes away, so it was just the best option. It’s close to home and my sister goes here too.”
Since joining the team, Schiavo has had the privilege of starting every game she was available to play in since her freshman year. In her career at Rowan so far, Schiavo has played in 56 games, put up five points (two goals and three assists), picked up 55 ground balls, and caused 25 turnovers.
Of those 25 turnovers, 14 of them have come from this season alone, which is a career-high for the defensive senior. With high numbers like those it begs the question, what is Schiavo doing this season to help her grow? Well, some of it is because of her routine that she does before every game.
“Every game day I eat the same breakfast, usually a bagel with cream cheese, eggs and either a strawberry or banana,” Schiavo said. “On the bus, I have a specific playlist, and if it’s a home game, I’ll do 20 minutes of wall ball just to get my stick warmed up, and if it’s an away game, I’ll try to get on the wall, but if not then I just watch the film on the bus, listen to my playlist and focus.”
The one pre-game ritual that always stays the same is when the Star Spangled Banner is playing, she closes her eyes and imagines herself playing well.
Head coach Lindsey Delaney had many good things to say about her captain and how she has improved through her career at Rowan. Delaney really thinks that she is a key part of this team and can be a big contributor to turning this season around for the Profs.
“As a performer, she has slowed the game down,” Delaney said. “She’s able to execute at a higher level now. When she first got here, everything was so fast. She just moved fast with it. She’s genuinely just an athletic human who can run fast and explode… She’s really just matured in her understanding of the game. As a leader, she’s a two-year captain, and there were 12 seniors last year, and she was voted as a junior captain alongside Hannah… It was easy, because she (Schiavo) was so consistent, whether it be communication or the standard of performance that she sets for her teammates… The question we always ask at the end of the year was: Who led this team more on and off the field, and consistently she was the consensus.”
Looking at the campaign so far through Schiavo’s eyes, she has noticed that there have been a lot of ups and downs throughout the first half of the season. With the majority on the team being lower classmen, she, as well as the other upperclassmen knew it was going to be a lot to adjust to. Now, with the loss of a lot of those veterans, Schiavo and the team are trying to adapt to their new normal.
“I’ve seen a lot of growth in myself, just because of how I have to adapt to these girls, so I’m really proud of that for myself… I try not to think about stats too much… It’s not the point of the game. I want to leave the program better than I found it,” Schiavo said.
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