Wissahickon’s Olivia Lore was recognized for committing to continue her soccer career at Wellesley College.
Olivia Lore – Wellesley College (Soccer)
Major: Pre-law
Final list of colleges: Wellesley, Sarah Lawrence College, Mount Holyoke College, Vassar College
Reasons for choosing Wellesley: “Incredible team environment and athletic culture; love the college’s philosophies about a liberal arts education; all-women’s college where female athletes and students are prioritized; only 15 minutes outside of Boston, MA.
What was the progression that led you to competing in soccer at the collegiate level? “Going into freshman year, if you had asked whether I was playing in college, I would have told you – “…absolutely
not.” I had quit the sport – I thought permanently – in middle school, but I decided I would come to the first day of preseason just to try it out. Thank goodness I did because through every season on the field and through summers spent with teammates at Center Square Park, playing soccer, this team – high school soccer – taught me how to love the sport again. Having found a renewed love for soccer and having an ACL injury steal my sophomore season, I decided my junior year that I wanted to play this sport beyond high school. I knew that for whatever school I attended, I would regret it if I went to watch a soccer game and I wasn’t the keeper in the net.
“I knew that I wanted to play at a DIII level: it encompassed the academically rigorous schools I was interested in, it would allow me time and freedom to pursue my academic and musical interests without restriction, and it was achievable for me having started the recruiting process junior year. Junior year, a lot of film was amassed from my club games, tournaments, and my high school season. I sent highlight videos to coaches in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and Maine. While this helped me get in touch with many schools, attending ID clinics propelled my recruiting process – playing among high-level prospects with multiple colleges in attendance. At one such clinic, I met a coach from Wellesley that I really clicked with. I had several calls with the coaches, stayed overnight at Wellesley, and fell in love with the campus, the team, and the school. Through managing contact with other schools, continuing to stay in touch and attending clinics led to my first offer to play NCAA DIII soccer at my number one school. I accepted almost immediately, and I couldn’t be more excited to play at a college that will provide me an invaluable quality of education and an amazing athletics experience.”
Coach Chris McDaniels says: “Olivia has a lot going on. She was the lead in our play. She sings really seriously - takes lessons and things along those lines. And the music and acting are both very important to her as well, and when she was looking at colleges - talent-wise, she's phenomenal in goal. I think she could have played anywhere she wanted to pretty much, but she was adamant that she needed to find a place that would let her check a lot of her boxes.
“She wanted a small, liberal arts school that would allow her to dabble in lots of things. She’s always trying new things, and when she's into something, she goes in pretty hard. That’s how she landed on Wellesley. Academically, she's a top, top student at Wiss, so, her academics were going to get her into top schools, and she just wanted a place that academically and arts-wise and athletically would be able to check all three of those boxes. Wellesley seemed to do that trick for her.
“There’s nothing she does that she doesn't pour her heart into. One of my favorite backstories of Liv - freshman year, she took the job of being starting keeper off a junior and a senior. It was apparent an hour into the first practice that this new girl – we had done the first couple practices, and every practice she's covered in mud and dirt and blood and having the best time. That's the other part of it that is really interesting. She loves diving around that goal and putting her body on the line, and she was a four-year starter. The only year she didn't start was her sophomore year. After having an incredible freshman year, she tore her ACL, I think, the first or second day of preseason sophomore year. Non-contact, freak injury. She turned, and it just went.
“As far as a teammate goes, when the girl who's your best player is the one who is sacrificing life and limb on every play - the reality of our team last year was we were pretty good defensively. but we really struggled to score goals, and she knew that if we let up one, it was going to be hard to get one to level it. So, she found a new level of urgency in her senior year because we graduated the likes of Margaret Wilde and Kylie Friedman. I was lucky enough to have some 20-goal scorers a couple years before that. And then last year, we only win five games, but we make the playoffs because we won some big games, and we just didn't give up goals, which kept us in games and largely attributable to Liv and her approach. She’s just awesome.”
About Olivia:
Favorite food: Caprese Salad
Favorite movie: Surf’s Up
Favorite artist: Lumineers
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