By Logan Walker, Staff Writer
Katie Caddigan is one of the most active members in the River Hill athletic department. She’s been on the varsity soccer team ever since she was called up her freshman year and has played varsity basketball since her sophomore year. And those two aren’t even her best sports; she’s been on the varsity lacrosse team since her freshman year and has committed to the University of Louisville for lacrosse.
Although she plays both soccer and lacrosse, she approaches both sports very differently. She plays goalkeeper in soccer, but plays on attack in lacrosse. “It’s hard for me to sit back and watch the entire game and not be able to run for a ball or dribble outside of the box,” says Caddigan about being a goalkeeper.
But being a goalkeeper allows her to develop more of a defensive approach to the game, which is contrary to her position in lacrosse in which is strictly offensive minded. There is one benefit to playing soccer, basketball, and lacrosse: the skill and effort involved in each of those sports help her while playing each sport and help keep up her endurance.
Katie knows what it’s like to win, playing on a team that won three consecutive state championships with the girls soccer team. “Winning three state championships consecutively is such an amazing accomplishment that you don’t see happening very often.”
Although she hasn’t experienced the same team success in lacrosse, she has experienced a sort of personal success when she committed to Louisville. Before the commitment, she invited the coaches of Louisville to come watch her play three different times at various tournaments.
Arriving on campus for a tour, she was stunned. “I knew immediately when I got to campus that it was a completely different school than any other school I had ever seen. It’s a huge sports school partly because there is no major professional sports team in Kentucky, so college sports is everything.”
She continued to communicate with the coaches and they watched her play in games until she finally received an offer. “I was very blessed to have been given a scholarship and it was an amazing feeling to finally decide what school was perfect for me,” says Caddigan. “After a year long process of playing in tournaments, visiting schools, and being recruited, it felt so nice to finally be stress free and 100% happy with my decision.”
Although she has played basketball in the winter her previous three years here, Katie will not be playing basketball this winter as she looks to focus on lacrosse. As for now, Katie looks to help lead the girls soccer team to a fourth straight state championship.