Student-athlete and star lacrosse player Elise Smigiel ‘21 verbally committed to Marquette University on Dec. 14, 2019 of her junior year.
Transferring to GA for her Sophomore year, Elise was ecstatic about competing in the Inter-Academic League. When joining GA’s Girls Lacrosse team, Elise looked forward to playing in a competitive league with girls committed to top-10 programs in college. When reflecting on her GA lacrosse experience, Elise described her most memorable game against Notre Dame in the PAISAA Semi-Finals during her sophomore year: “It was really cool that we got to see how much we improved over the season and how we were able to stay with them,” she said. Although Elise has only played one official season with the team, she feels that she has built some strong friendships, and now she is excited for the special opportunity to mentor underclassmen on the team.
When touching on her recruiting process, she explained the difficulty of balancing recruitment with her junior year. In addition to being a full-time student, Elise traveled most weekends for showcases and visits while also receiving multiple phone calls throughout the week. One thing Elise looked for in a college was her exact major, Exercise Physiology, which Marquette has an entire school dedicated to.
For Elise, her commitment to Marquette is her biggest accomplishment in the sport. However, she noted that her process was not the typical process most lacrosse recruits go through. Usually, players are the ones responsible for maintaining contact with coaches and letting them know about showcases. However, Elise never did that with Marquette, as Marquette actually reached out to her. After having a personal conversation with the coach, Elise was invited to a visit at campus, and said she “absolutely loved it. I loved how even though it’s a city school it feels really contained and small.” She added that “the culture of the team was so nice and the coaches were really easy to talk to, really everything about it.”
Elise commented that she is most excited about the opportunity to push herself in this new level of training. “I’m really excited to focus all of my attention to lacrosse and push myself and my teammates and make some really close friends,” she said.
While Elise hasn’t gotten the chance to meet all her new teammates in-person due to COVID-19, she’s been able to meet some of the other recruits via Zoom calls and group chats, and other local teammates from the Philadelphia area.
The GA community wishes Elise the best in her future athletic and academic endeavors!
