By: Jason Benedek, Staff Writer
River Hill Athletics have been nothing short of dominant in the past few years. With these impressive teams, River Hill has produced many top notch athletes who have dominated the playing field. Few of those athletes have had the opportunity to play at the top level of college sports, Division I Athletics. Seniors Erin Divine (Rutgers Lacrosse), Molly Maloney (La Salle Lacrosse), Claire Slade (Xavier Lacrosse), Caroline Duffy (Duke Soccer), and Rachel Soubier (Pitt Swimming) are those few River Hill Athletes that have recently committed to be student athletes at the Division I level. These girls’ extreme work ethic, motivation, and perseverance in high school sports paid off, and eventually got them into great colleges.
Because there is no official swim team for River Hill, Rachel Soubier swam for Rockville Montgomery Swim Club, in Olney, Maryland. With that club, Rachel would vigorously train with top notch swimmers and coaches.
“We have practice for about 18 and a half hours a week (including swim and dryland workouts),” says Rachel. She later explained that, “It’s been really helpful for me to have coaches who spend that much time dedicated to making us better, working with us on technical skills, and writing practices designed to help us get faster.”
With the insane amount of hard work and dedication she put towards making herself a stronger, faster, and overall better swimmer, Rachel was able to get attention from various Division I schools before her Junior year even started.
“I didn’t have to do anything to get noticed by them,” said Rachel modestly, “but in order to talk to schools I was interested in that hadn’t reached out first, I filled out online questionnaires and sent a lot of emails to coaches just letting them get to know me. Some schools you have to be really persistent in emailing a few times with updates about your best times and meets, so they can see you’re interested and see you’re improving to the level they want you.” Luckily, Pitt showed great interest in her, because of the intense training she put in towards her swimming career..
It wasn’t all about the competition for Rachel. She wanted a school that would meet her academic requirements as well.
“I chose Pitt because I was looking for the best mix of high level swimming, academics, and school/team culture I could find, and I felt like they were the best fit for me. School was my first priority and they have a really good computer science program, which is what I plan to major in. The student athletes have tons of unique advantages like their housing, food, etc. and the coaches and swimmers I met were super welcoming. I also loved the campus, it was super cool to be that close to the city but it still felt like a college town.”
Rachel is the perfect example of a student athlete. She is bound to do great things in the pool and in the classroom for years to come.
Molly Maloney’s commitment process was a little different from Rachel’s. As an outgoing person, she found it difficult not being able to reach out to coaches in person due to the pandemic.
“A lot of it was just waiting games and then having to make quick decisions. My year for recruiting also was harder because we were in a dead period for almost a year. We couldn’t see college coaches in person, only speak with them over the phone,” explains Molly. But like Rachel, Molly was able to put in tireless hours into her athletic and academic career, and eventually commit to LaSalle for Division I lacrosse.
Molly’s work with River Hill lacrosse and her club team, Hero’s Lacrosse, allowed her to excel as a high school player. She credits her success to River Hill coach, Amy Weinberg, and Hero’s Lacrosse coaches, Brain Kruger, and her father, for helping develop her as an athlete.
Molly says, “River Hill lacrosse has given me so many opportunities to work on rendering my skills and continuing to give me things to improve upon. Having the opportunity to be captain as a Junior allowed me to work on my leadership and help me to become a better player.” She adds that, “Hero’s Lacrosse allowed me to get a lot of exposure to college coaches. We were a nationally ranked program, so every game we played, coaches were watching. I also had to constantly work on my skills outside of practice and games in order to be someone that stuck out in tournaments. I owe so much of my recruiting success to my coaches because they continuously put my name in the running for good lacrosse programs.”
Part of being a great athlete is being coachable. If you are willing to learn the game and be given tips and strategies, you will constantly get better. That amazing coachability, crazy work ethic, and unmatched skill shown from Molly sparked great interest in La Salle University.
“La Salle’s program was always on my college list ever since I started the process. I knew their nursing program was amazing which was very important to me because that is the career I want to pursue. The coaches are very up-front about putting school first and are allowing me to do both lacrosse and nursing, which at other schools that I talked to, I couldn’t do. The atmosphere on the team also was amazing, everyone looked out for one another and made everyone feel welcome. That is something that was very important to me when looking at programs, and something that I found at La Salle,“ explained Molly.
There is no doubt that La Salle University is the perfect match for Molly Maloney. When asked what teammate has helped her the most along her high school lacrosse journey she said,
“Claire Slade. Claire and I are very competitive people so no matter what we were doing in practice we would go against each other and push one another so much. She made me a better player from simply playing with her and I am very grateful for that.”
Claire Slade had similar words to say about Molly. She stated that, “Molly Maloney is always my completive partner who pushes me to be the best player I can be. In high school practices she is a great partner to have to be competitive with and push me to my limits to make each other better.”
Unfortunately, this dynamic duo will be split apart in the next chapter of their academic and athletic journeys. Claire will be attending Xavier University, which is 566 miles west of La Salle. Nevertheless, Xavier University seemed to be the perfect fit for Claire. Due to COVID-19 the NCAA gave seniors an additional year of eligibility to play sports, making the recruiting process even more challenging. Luckily, this wasn’t a problem for Claire when she started keeping in touch with Xavier women’s lacrosse coach, Meg Decker.
“I wanted to find a school that had good academics along with good athletics and that balance was very important to me. I waited a long time to find the right fit for me. I wanted to find the right size school, in a good location, and especially with a good coach and team dynamic. Xavier checked all of my boxes with great academics and a great athletic-based school. It is a new team with a new coach, and I couldn’t be more excited to have the team that I do,” Claire explains.
When asked if she’s excited to work with coach Meg Decker, Claire replied, “Yes I am! Her happy and excited personality caught my eye and how warm her welcome was. One of my favorite parts of the camp was at the end, she gathered everyone up and gave a speech and made it personal for her and her family and her future plans for this program. The first call I had with her she was very honest and she put a lot of thought and did her research on the way I played which made me feel like I was really seen by her.”
Claire is bound to do great things with Coach Decker at Xavier, but she will still miss the great memories she made with the River Hill lacrosse team. She too credits a great amount of her success to Coach Amy Weinberg of River Hill girls lacrosse.
“I will definitely miss the friendships I have built over the years. I will miss the bonds I have made with the team and coaches. I’m definitely going to miss going to practice and having fun and joking around yet putting in the work and watching our team grow together. Also the pregame car rides or bus rides to games to get hype for who were about to play and the fun I have spending time with all of my teammates,” says Claire.
Erin Devine was a three sport varsity athlete as a freshman. She excelled at soccer, and basketball, but fell in love with lacrosse.
By early junior year, Erin had already announced her verbal commitment to Rutgers University. Erin Explains that, “The recruiting process was definitely stressful but exciting. Leading up to the months where D-I coaches couldn’t talk to me yet, I was putting in lots of effort to get my name out there. Making a good profile for recruitment lax websites, emailing/updating coaches frequently when something important happened sports wise for me, and attending camps really gave me the opportunity to get my name out there.” She adds, “When September 1st [the first day she was able to talk to Division One coaches] of my junior year came, there were lots of nerves running through my body. It was so exciting to finally be able to full on conversate with the coaches. I was getting emails, phone calls, and text messages all day. It was super exciting when some of my top choices were calling me expressing their interest.”
Erin had worked tirelessly for River Hill lacrosse and shined on the field. She too thanks coach Amy Weinberg for her success in high school. Erin explained, “ My coach Amy Weinberg really helped me develop a good IQ for lacrosse since I started the game compared to other people. Coach Amy always pushes me to work my hardest & never gives up. Even as a freshman Coach Amy allowed me to lead my team on the field which implemented good leadership skills I use in all my sports now.”
Erin is super excited to work with Rutgers coach Melissa Lehman, who in 2017 was named the seventh coach in the history of the program.
“During the recruitment process Coach Melissa went out of her way to get to know me personally & she showed me the family culture that Rutgers has, which I love. The team uses the saying “brick by brick,” and I think that really showcases the team very well. Within the past season we were beating some of the top teams in the country & we went in national rankings to #14 in the country. I cannot wait to be part of a team that is filled with such grit & such an amazing coaching staff that thrives to make each player better & pushes us all to work hard to meet our goals. The opportunity to play in the BIG 10, the top conference for women’s lacrosse is very exciting and I can’t wait to get started. Rutgers is definitely on the rise & I’m excited to be able to contribute to it.”
There is no doubt Erin will reach great heights at Rutgers.
Caroline Duffy has been one of the most dominant players in Howard County soccer history. On top of all the pressure of being a goalie, and being hyped up her entire high school career since being named to the second team All-County as a freshman, Caroline hasn’t once folded under pressure. After her senior season, Caroline saved the best for last, and was named the 2021 Howard County girls soccer Player of the Year. Caroline is now committed to Duke, where she will play soccer and thrive.
Club soccer and high school soccer would go on to play a prominent role in getting Caroline in the recruiting pool.
“I got noticed by Division I schools through my club soccer team too. I play for Maryland United FC in the ECNL league. In this league there are showcases around the country throughout the year where numerous colleges attend to search for players. My club participated in these showcases and there I got noticed by Duke and other Division I colleges. Since my club team plays at such a high level and I am able to compete with some of the best girls in the state, I was able to continue to get better and be noticed by these schools,” explained Caroline.
With a prestigious school like Duke, Caroline will have to work extremely hard to balance her athletic and academic career.
Caroline explains that, “At Duke, they have specific academic advisors for athletes that help with scheduling, tutoring, and helping to keep athletes balanced. I think going in I’m going to need to work hard on time management because of practices and games and potential days that I miss classes will add to my work. Overall, Duke is a great program for student-athletes to balance their academic and athletic life.” With all of these great resources, Caroline will succeed at Duke University.
Caroline thanks Coach Song and her club coaches for helping her get to where she is today. “I would say that the club coaches that I have worked with since I was nine years old have made a huge impact on me for the longest. They all have worked with me for the past 8 years to improve myself as a soccer player. They also talked to college coaches for me and helped immensely through the recruiting process. My high school coaches have also made a huge impact on my development. Coach Song gave me the opportunity as a freshman to step up and start on varsity. This opportunity helped me gain a lot of confidence that has helped to carry through the rest of my high school career.”
There is no doubt that Caroline Duffy will flourish at Duke.
Rachel Soubier, Molly Maloney, Claire Slade, Erin Devine, and Caroline Duffy are all great examples of what a great work ethic can get you. If you would like to become a Division I athlete like these girls, here is some advice from them.
Rachel advises that “In the sport, keep your goals in mind and make sure every time you finish practice you’ve done at least one thing to get closer to your goals- whether it’s a skill you’re working on, the effort you’re putting in, or even your mental outlook. As far as recruiting, start early and don’t be afraid to reach out to the same school multiple times with updates (I swear they don’t think you’re annoying), and make yourself stand out!”
Molly says, “My advice to anyone that is trying to play a D I sport is to take your time. The recruiting process can be grueling at times and stress you out because others around you are making quick decisions. Make sure that you love the school before the sports program and do not try to rush it because it is a massive decision you make earlier than a lot of other people.”
Claire’s input is that “I would give the advice of not giving up. It’s called a process for a reason and there will be ups and downs but you have to keep fighting for what you want and know your worth. Don’t settle for something that is easy and not what you want. Things will work out in the end how they are meant to, so if you work hard towards your goal, it will pay off.”
Erin also comments on the process, saying, “Stay consistent in training whether it is the season or offseason. Don’t take any days off where you feel like you have made no progress, and make sure you get at least one productive thing done every day. Lastly, make sure you set high goals for yourself so you will constantly be working, and putting in effort towards achieving your goals.”
Finally, Caroline says that “I would remind somebody that having a good work ethic and being coachable are two of the most important things that colleges look for. When you can’t control how the game turns out you can always control how much effort you’re putting into each and every play. Also, the ability to learn from multiple people and coaches is very important. Lastly, I would say that you need to be willing to make sacrifices in your day-to-day life. Some days when your friends want to go out on a Friday night you have to sacrifice that experience to get to bed early for your game the next morning. If you’re not willing to make a sacrifice for your sport, it’s very hard to play at the next level.”