Lacrosse, Soccer
Favorite athlete: Dempsey Arsenault
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Getting a state playoff berth for the first time last year for lacrosse!
Funniest/most embarrassing thing that has happened while competing in sports: Tripping over my own feet at practice and giving myself a concussion and missing a game
Music on playlist: Any kind, mostly country
Future plans: Attend Rutgers University to continue lacrosse career and major in Biology
Words to live by: “Today you will do what others won’t, so tomorrow you will do what others can’t.”
One goal before turning 30: Get my Medical Degree
One thing people don’t know about me: I am a twin!
By GORDON GLANTZ
It is a quote generally attributed to football great Jerry Rice, and one that the dad of Annalise Messina would repeat on long weekend rides to lacrosse tournaments and/or as she got out of the car for a game.
For Messina, the Upper Moreland senior and the lone daughter of Colleen and Jay, ‘Today you will do what others won’t, so tomorrow you will do what others can’t’ has gone from background noise to words to live by.
She has seen the results manifest as a lacrosse superstar soon headed to play at the highest collegiate level at Rutgers University and also as a solid high school soccer player.
“I used to think he was just saying stuff but, as I got older, I realized that practicing in the offseason and practicing on your own is what separates you from everybody,” said Messina, the unofficially official all-time leading goal scorer in the school’s lacrosse program (she could hit the astounding career number of 400-plus tallies with a significant postseason run). “That quote has definitely resonated with me.”
Bearing Witness
The results of Messina pushing herself to the limit have also resonated with her coaches – lacrosse coach Kim Frantz and soccer coach Lisa Benvenuto – who have been firsthand witnesses to what Messina’s hard work has brought to their teams and wrought upon opponents.
“Even if you know nothing about soccer or lacrosse, you can watch the game and know how good she is,” said Benvenuto.
Added Frantz: “She lives and breathes lacrosse. She lifts in the morning. She goes to (high school) practice after school. She he goes to (club) practice at night. She plays all weekend. She is just 100 percent dedicated to the sport. She wants to be the best player that she can be. She’s just a very, very hard worker when it comes to the game of lacrosse.”
And, when it comes to the game of soccer, there is no let up.
“She is a student of her game,” said Benvenuto. “She will do whatever she has to do to get one up (on an opponent). She knows that out there in the world somewhere, there is someone else who is trying to achieve the same things she is trying to accomplish. If she meets that person, head to head, she wants to beat her.”
And despite being wholly committed to lacrosse, which morphed into her top sport by middle school, she has brought the same mentality to the soccer pitch.
“During the soccer season, she was still a full-time lacrosse player while being a four-year starter for me on our back line,” said Benvenuto. “She was an integral part of our team while also working so hard to achieve her goal of playing Division I lacrosse. A lot of kids would say, ‘This is too hard.’ She never did. She met it where it was. She did what she needed to do to achieve it.”
Hard Work Pays Off
Aside from country music, lacrosse is sort of the family business for the Messina clan.
Annelise’s older brother, Joseph, played the game and twin, Kevin, is currently a standout on the boys’ side at Upper Moreland.
Nonetheless, it did not come easily for her.
Despite how effortless she appears while playing lacrosse now, Messina admits that she was not a natural in the beginning.
“Honestly, no – not even a little bit,” she said, with a chuckle. “I was never real good when I was little, but I just thought that it was such a cool sport. I was just so frustrated with not being able to catch the ball, with the hand-eye coordination. It just wasn’t connecting at first.
“I just kept going, though. There was township lacrosse, just a little rec league that we had, and I just kept working on catching and throwing. Once I had it down, I just ran with that.”
And she hasn’t stopped running with it.
Messina added that the freedom of lacrosse – and the chance to use her speed -- is what has ultimately made it her main game.
“The two sports are similar in some ways,” said Messina, who never once scored a goal in a competitive soccer game. “In lacrosse, though, I just have that freedom of running. I’m usually one of the faster people on the field, and I’m just able to really use my speed to my advantage. That definitely helps, especially on the offensive side.”
Frantz is often mesmerized while watching her star player in action, but is well aware of the work she put into it.
“Her catching and throwing is just phenomenal,” said Frantz. “It’s unreal how her stick is almost like a part of her body, from the way she catches the ball and the way she throws the ball. It’s very effortless. It feels so natural to her.
“That didn’t just happen overnight, though. She put in so much work and so much time to be that good. She’s very natural. She’s fun to watch, let’s say that.”
While it remains to be seen if Messina may end up playing more of a defensive role at the next level, her coach believes a lot of potential still remains.
“I think because she works hard and is willing to do whatever she is given, I definitely think she is going to keep growing and getting better,” said Frantz. “Just because of her personality, she is definitely going to continue to grow, and that’s because of who she is and because she wants to.”
A Strong Student
Messina brings the same competitive mentality to the classroom, where the aspiring physician plans to major in biology and takes AP or honors courses.
“Academically, she does really well in the classroom,” said Frantz. “She takes high-level classes and has great grades. That’s just her. All around, she is just a really great kid and a hard worker.”
Messina, boasting a 4.5 GPA, said she really doesn’t know any other way to approach her schoolwork but to do her best.
“I have definitely always worked hard in school and had good grades,” she said, adding that she is thinking she would like to be an anesthesiologist.
Messina believes that working in a fast-paced setting, like an emergency room, would be an ideal fit.
“I have always known that I have wanted to be in a high-pressured kind of setting,” she said. “I don’t want to sit still. I want to be on my feet. I definitely work well under pressure. I want to help people, and I think a hospital setting would be a place I could thrive.”
Team Player
Despite all of her personal accolades, such as all-league honors, Messina is a true team player at heart.
The highlight of her career, for example, was when the Golden Bears reached the second round of the state playoffs in lacrosse last year.
It was an historic run for the program.
“It was so cool,” said Messina. “In the beginning of the year, it was kind of up in the air over whether we’d be able to go to playoffs. Just to be able to take in the moment, as we went through the playoffs, was just a really cool experience.”
With many lost to graduation from a year ago, the aim is that the Bears can and will still find their way back to the summit.
“I’m hoping,” said Messina. “We lost a lot of key players from last year. I really think we can get there. We had a hard stretch recently, but I feel like we can definitely bounce back.”
Messina realizes that she will not only need to lead the way on the scoresheet, where Frantz estimates that she generates 90 percent of the offense, but as an overall leader.
“A lot of the players we have starting, it’s their first or second year,” she said. “A lot of them don’t play outside of high school. I feel like I can use my club experience, on and off the field.”
Frantz says that Messina is a leader by example, someone the other Golden Bears naturally want to emulate and follow.
“She has been a leader on our team all year, and really for all four of her years,” said Frantz. “She will go down as one of the best, if not the best, girls’ lacrosse player in Upper Moreland history.”
Leader by Example
On the soccer side, Benvenuto has seen this leadership style as well.
“I don’t think she expects them to be what she is, but she expects them to work hard,” said the coach. “Even though soccer isn’t her No. 1 sport, she always gave 110 percent out there, and she expected everyone else to do the same.
“They have followed her. Especially with our younger players, she has had a real positive impact on them.”
As is the case in lacrosse, a lot of Messina’s leadership in soccer comes from the way she carries herself.
“She is, quite possibly, one of the most humble people I have ever met,” said Benvenuto. “She doesn’t brag. She just does her job.
“On the field, she is really poised. She does it in a conversational voice. She’s not going to be a yeller or a screamer. She will walk over to our goalie and say something, or to one of our other defenders or midfielders and have a quick little chalk talk. They respond. She leads by example, 100 percent. If you had a competition -- and the winner gets X, Y and Z -- she is going to win it.”
In Messina, Benvenuto sees an athlete who checks all the boxes and could excel at any sport.
“She is just a phenomenal athlete. Soccer isn’t her first sport but, quite honestly, she could play soccer in college if she wanted,” said Benvenuto. “She is one of those athletes who, if you gave her a sport that she has never done, she could pick it up.
“She has natural athletic ability, coupled with probably one of the strongest work ethics I have ever seen in a high school athlete.”
The Road to Rutgers
Although she was progressing well with lacrosse, Messina was both pleasantly surprised and a bit overwhelmed when colleges could first contact her.
“Her goal was always to go and play Division I lacrosse, and she knew it took a lot of hard work to get to that point,” said Frantz. “That was the motivation, too.
“On the first day they could talk to her, I think it was something like well over 20 Division I coaches were reaching out to her. It was a bit of a whirlwind for her. She had to do all these visits, and they were putting pressure on her to make a decision. She had a ton of interest.”
After taking some visits, Messina narrowed the final choice down to Syracuse and Rutgers.
“I spent the weekend (at Rutgers),” said Messina. “I loved the team culture, and I loved the coaches. I felt like I could fit in there. It’s also close to home, and I wanted my parents to be able to come and watch me play. It checked a lot of the right boxes.”
Even though she was her soccer coach, Benvenuto – aka “Coach B” -- helped to counsel Messina when making her college decision.
“I really have to thank Coach B,” said Messina. “She helped throughout the whole recruiting process. Even though it was for a different sport, she always pushed me and helped me to be the best person that I could be, on and off the field.”
Benvenuto reflected on the recruiting process as a difficult time for Messina and she was glad to be there to help her navigate through some rough waters.
“This process consumed our entire soccer season her junior year,” said Benvenuto. “She was overwhelmed at times with the process, and I wanted her to know that I was here to support her.
“We had conversations about focusing on the fit of the school, not just the notoriety of the name.”
While it’s flattering to be so sought after, the downside is telling feeling pressured to make a decision and turning schools down.
“I could see how torn she was, and I provided a safe place where she could express her thoughts,” said Benvenuto. “I told her to trust her heart. It wouldn’t lead her wrong.
“I am really proud of her resilience during this time, and in her ability to turn off the noise when she needed to be a soccer player.”
In addition to her high school coaches and teammates -- including those at NXT, her club team -- Messina also wanted to thank her brothers for not treating her with kid gloves during impromptu backyard skills competitions.
“My brothers pushed me to be the most competitive person I could be on the field,” she said. “I would not have chosen lacrosse if not for them.”
And then there are her parents, who have always been there for her throughout all the ups and downs.
“My parents are definitely my biggest supporters,” said Messina. “They show up to every game, every practice and every tournament.
“They are definitely tough love parents. They give me criticism when I need it. They just pushed me to be the best player I could be, and the best person, on and off the field.”
