Volleyball, Indoor Track, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Debbie Black
Favorite team: Chicago Sky
Favorite memory competing in sports: In our district playoff game against Abington, we were down 6-5 at halftime and came back to win 18-8, and we were the underdog. It was probably our best game of the season, and I had my personal high of nine goals.
Music on iPod: Country
Future plans: Have a big family and be successful in whatever I decide to do.
Words to live by: Live every day as it if were your last.
One goal before turning 30: Visit Australia and go skydiving
One thing people don’t know about me: I used to have two pet squirrels.
By Mary Jane Souder
Sarah Poli remembers sitting in front of the television as a youngster and watching her aunt, Debbie Black, playing basketball in the WNBA.
It seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
“It just felt like a normal thing – oh, everyone is watching their aunt on TV,” the Central Bucks South senior said. “I remember when she was playing for the Connecticut Sun and we went up to visit her.
“It was the opening of the (Mohegan Sun) Casino where they played. It was such a cool experience watching her from the stands.”
While it might have seemed like a normal thing at the time, Poli has come to realize just how extraordinary it is to have grown up in a family of athletes who have excelled at every level.
Debbie Black, now the head women’s basketball coach of Eastern Illinois University, played professional basketball for 10 years. As a collegiate player, she led St. Joseph’s University to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances and is in the school’s Hall of Fame.
Her mother, Barb (Black) Poli, boasts an impressive resume as well. A member of the Archbishop Wood Hall of Fame where she earned 12 varsity letters, she went on to play three sports for four years at St. Joe’s, earning 12 letters there as well. She boasts coaching experience at both the high school and collegiate levels.
If it seems Sarah might be feeling some pressure to live up to those standards, guess again.
“My mom never pressured me, and I never felt I had to live up to her expectations, but it was always a personal expectation,” she said. “It was - oh, my aunt played in the WNBA, I am athletic – I already know that, so I might as well make something out of it. It was just how far I could take it.”
Poli has taken it to lofty heights. A first team all-league player the last two years, the South senior accepted a scholarship to play collegiate lacrosse at St. Joe’s. This year, she is competing in three sports at South, and she’s doing it for all the right reasons. She enjoys it.
“Lacrosse is my favorite sport, but sometimes you need to change it up,” Poli said. “I love playing other sports. My mom always told me – never give up playing multiple sports, and I wouldn’t want to.”
Poli admits she couldn’t have imagined an ending to her high school career that would include a scholarship to play lacrosse at the Division One level. After all, it was her ‘other’ sport.
“I always thought maybe I’d be able to do something with volleyball,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what division or how good I would be, but I never really thought I was a standout in lacrosse.”
Coach Janique Craig saw things differently when Poli stepped onto the field at South.
“When Sarah was a freshman, I knew immediately she had the potential to play at the Division One level,” the Titans’ coach said. “Her work ethic, dedication and natural talent were way above the average freshman.
“Sarah also had the maturity and poise to lead at a young age.”
Buoyed by her coach’s belief in her ability, Poli was an impact player from the outset, earning all-league honors and teaming with fellow freshman Courtney Dietzel to form the cornerstone of a program on the rise.
“It was like a switch turned on, and I excelled in lacrosse,” Poli said. “Coach Craig said she could see me playing at the next level, and if I put in a lot of work with it and spent a lot of time working on the fundamentals and trying to better my game, she could definitely see me going D-1.
“That’s when I was like, ‘Oh, okay, maybe I have something.’”
Although lacrosse is front and center for Poli, she is also a force on the volleyball court where last year she moved from the setter position to outside hitter.
“Even last year, she played a big part in what we did, and she’s going to have an even bigger part this year,” said coach Kurt Godfrey. “I’m very fortunate to have her on the team.
“She’s a leader not only by example, but she also helps coach the other girls. She’s always encouraging, always able to pick their spirits up.”
Volleyball and lacrosse entered the picture when she began playing both in fifth grade for CYO, but prior to that time, basketball was in Poli’s blood.
“As a baby, I was always around it and in the gym when my mom was coaching,” said Poli, whose mother was then the basketball and field hockey coach at Mount St. Joseph Academy. “And basketball camps – all my cousins played at her camps.”
One year of soccer was all Poli needed to convince herself it wasn’t for her. She ran track in fourth grade but walked away from that sport until joining the winter track team at South.
“Everyone in my family played sports,” said Poli, whose father, Dave Poli, was an outstanding long distance runner. “Besides basketball, volleyball was my first other sport. I picked it up pretty good.”
Poli played CYO lacrosse through eighth grade and then joined her friends who were already on the club circuit.
“They all started club back in fourth and fifth grade,” she said. “I just thought it was a fun sport, and in eighth grade, I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll try club.’”
After a stint with Bucks Select, she moved to a highly competitive Ultimate Club team, and it wasn’t long before it became obvious Poli was a natural, teaming with Dietzel to form a dangerous one-two punch for the Titans.
As freshmen, the duo combined for 39 goals for a sub-.500 squad. Last year, both Poli and Dietzel reached the 100-goal mark in the same game for a Titan squad that won the program’s first ever postseason game, upsetting Abington 18-8.
In that historic win, Poli was unstoppable, connecting on 9-of-10 shots and also contributing a pair of assists. Dietzel made those goals possible with eight draw controls to go along with four goals and three caused turnovers.
Poli’s offensive prowess was underscored this summer when she was clocked with the fastest shot (63 mph) at St. Joe’s lacrosse camp that included the team’s incoming recruits..
“The most exciting thing about Sarah is that I feel she has so much more room to grow as a player,” Craig said. “Each year she continues to impress me with her willingness to learn and improve her game.
“She will do whatever it takes for her team and coaches. That’s what sets her apart from everyone else.”
An academic All-American, Poli – who is enrolled in several AP classes – is ranked in the top 10 percent of her graduating class. She chose St. Joe’s from a final list that included Drexel, Robert Morris, Iona and American, and although she is uncertain of a major, she is considering business with a medical slant because of her interest in math and science.
Although lacrosse is a year-round sport, Poli’s focus these days is on her final high school volleyball season.
“She’s already committed to go to St. Joe’s for lacrosse, so it’s very big that she comes out and plays volleyball,” Godfrey said of the senior co-captain. “She’s a leader on and off the field and court for both teams, and she’s a great student as well.
“She comes from a really good family, and she’s one of those players that every coach wants. She’s going to be an asset for us. She’s one of those kids you meet her and say, ‘God, she’s an athlete.’ If she was playing soccer, if she was playing field hockey, if she was playing water polo, I’m sure she’d succeed in whatever she does. She’s just an amazing athlete and a tremendous kid.”
