More News

For love of lacrosse

Conrad’s dedication pays off with college future

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Brian Lewis⁄The Gazette Blake graduate Colleen Conrad is taking her love of lacrosse to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, where she will play defense.

‘‘I chickened out,” Colleen said. ‘‘It was weird not to have Karen there, so I went down to the field the first day but I didn’t play.”

Luckily, Colleen found her nerve the second day, and after playing a year at Good Counsel, she transferred the Blake, where for the past three seasons she has anchored the Bengals’ defense. This past season as a senior, her stellar play in front of goalie Kelly Arguero, as well as the goal-scoring ability of senior Rachel Schexnayder and juniors Sammy Allen and Molly Wannen, helped Blake win the Class 4A-3A West Region title and advance to the state semifinals. Though the Bengals lost that game to Severna Park, 24-7, it was a watershed moment for the program, which had never before made the state playoffs.

‘‘After playing together with our coach [Nicky Barrett, who was in her second season with Blake] for a year, we were able to get a feel for each other,” Conrad said. ‘‘We put a lot of work into the off-season, and it was great to finally get a chance to see how far we had come. It was awesome.”

Part of the reason Conrad could enjoy her senior season so much was that the hard work that she herself had put in during the off-season paid off. She played on two club teams, M+D and Champions of Tomorrow, and also made weekend treks to various club tournaments in between her junior and senior years in the hope of attracting the interest of college programs. Initially, there was only frustration.

‘‘That summer was really hard,” she said. ‘‘You’re putting in all this effort, but coaches can’t talk to you until after July 1. You keep going to practice and to camps, and you have to tell yourself that you’re going to be seen.”

As July arrived, however, it became clear that college coaches had taken notice. Conrad took official visits to Salisbury and Catholic, but the school that she kept coming back to was the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

‘‘I really liked the girls at Catholic and UMBC,” Conrad said. ‘‘I knew that if I played in college, I would be spending a lot of time with the team, so that was really important. It was a hard decision. The fact that [UMBC] was a Division I program really tipped the scales. I really worked hard, and I wanted to play at the highest level that I could play at.”

That desire was born out of a love for a game that she picked up just few years ago. Conrad was so taken by lacrosse that she even volunteered time to the Burtonsville Athletic Association, coaching fundamentals to 13- and 14-year-olds. It was a natural extension of her desire to be on the lacrosse field.

‘‘I love working with younger kids, and I love lacrosse,” Conrad said. ‘‘It was a little weird to see them look up to you, especially because I didn’t play lacrosse when I was their age, but it was fun.”

While Conrad expects to continue to have fun playing at UMBC next season, Retrievers coach Courtney Connors, who was named the 2006 America East Conference coach of the year, won’t be expecting her to score. Conrad had two goals and two assists last season, but her defensive skills fit the bill for UMBC. Already, she has taken part in a preseason camp and has dedicated the summer to conditioning and training for a season that is still eight months away.

‘‘I’ve put a lot into playing this game,” Conrad said. ‘‘I feel like, as a defensive player, I can see what’s going on in a game and what needs to be done for my team to be successful. I’m hoping I get a chance to show that in college.”