Nov. 1, 2014
Seniors Megan Green and Noelle Leary reflect on the time they have spent in the Orange and Blue.
In 20 years when you see a kid walking down the street in an Illinois shirt, what is the first thing you'll remember about your time playing soccer at Illinois?
MG: I will flash back to the best memories, experiences and opportunities I could ever dream of having playing four years of Big Ten soccer at THE University of Illinois. I'll remember the teammates that became my best friends, the travel trips, the Big Ten Tournament championship and the NCAA Sweet 16.
NL: The feeling I would always get during our warm-up of Friday night home games. Specifically, right as we line up clapping to the beat of the drums, then rushing out onto the field, and the beginning of our warm-up CD. You just get this huge rush of euphoria that would last the entire 40 minutes until the whistle to start the match. If you could encapsulate that feeling and sell it to the public, you would make billions. There's nothing else like it.
What advice would you like to pass on to next year's freshmen?
MG: I would tell them to try their absolute best and to love every single moment, the good and the bad. Take one day at a time, and make the most out of it. You'll have off performances and off days, but the best thing you can do is embrace the challenges you come across. Positivity goes a LONG way. I've always believed that a head full of fears has no space for dreams. View every hard practice, every overtime battle, and any bit of adversity you face as a moment to learn and grow. But most importantly, don't forget to support and bring your teammates with you. After all, it's not every day you get to battle on the field playing the game you love with your best friends!
NL: Freshman year can be challenging since there are so many adjustments that you have to make. So if there's ever a time where you're down or questioning things, just remember that feeling you had on your visits that led to you committing here. When you saw the campus, the field, the team, our family values, and realized that this was the place you wanted to be....Nothing else would compare to Illinois, and you wouldn't settle for anything less. Remember and play for that. It's what makes it all worth it. Every single day.
How have you changed during your career at Illinois?
MG: Throughout my career at Illinois, I have grown and matured significantly. One of the many great attributes to the Illinois Soccer program is that you don't just grow as a soccer player, but you grow exponentially as an all around person. Through the highs and the lows and stressors of being a student-athlete, I've learned to every now and then sit back, take a moment, and appreciate how incredibly fortunate I am in all aspects of life.
NL: I believe I have just really developed as a person throughout my career. Overall, it has helped me to become a better person. I also talk a lot more (and louder) than my freshman year. Just ask Brittany.
What will you miss the most about Illinois?
MG: I will miss so many things about Illinois! I will miss the thrilling feeling of a Friday night game under the lights. I'll miss having the opportunity to compete every single day and continuously work toward a common goal with some of the best teammates I could ever ask for. I'll miss seeing my best friends every day and living just a few blocks away from each other. On a more serious note, I'll miss the feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction after running twelve stinkers and twelve 120's in one practice. I'll miss the warm but windy days of practice when we get wonderful whiffs of all the great smelling farm animals. I'll miss having to take my resting heart rate every morning. I'll miss chauffeuring my teammates around in Chester. I'll miss the fact that it's only acceptable to be a 21-year-old traveling through airports with a Scooby-Doo pillow pet when I'm traveling with twenty other girls who all also have (less cool) pillow pets (except Hope's is pretty cool). But most of all, I'll miss hoarding endless amounts of Katie's trail mix from Varsity Room!!
NL: I absolutely love this school, team and campus, so I will honestly miss everything about it; whether it's walking to class through the quad, travelling with the team or Noyes 100 for chemistry courses. This university and program has encompassed all the values and experiences I could ever hope for in my collegiate career. I will miss living, breathing, and bleeding orange and blue on a daily basis.
What is one thing that stands out as having changed in you as a result of your time at Illinois?
MG: As a result of my time at Illinois, I have grown to realize the importance of kindness and appreciation. A little kindness goes a long way, and I've learned that it never hurts to let someone know just how much their presence in your life means to you. Life certainly is precious, and it's important to always keep others in your thoughts but also to let them know the appreciation you have for their impact on your life, no matter how big or small.
NL: I definitely have a much greater appreciation for people, education and possessions. My time here has made me realize that there are so many great things and people in the world, but they may only be present for a finite amount of time (e.g. 4 years). I no longer take things for granted and treasure the people, memories and experiences for as long as I have them.
What would you have never done or never seen if you had not played soccer at Illinois?
MG: Playing soccer at Illinois has provided me with so many experiences I would not of had elsewhere. I would have never been blessed with the opportunity to travel to so many different places and see so many different universities. I would not have experienced the success of being a Big Ten champ or making it to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. Also, I wouldn't have become a Victoria's Secret angel (shout out to the trees) or made a Canadian friend. I also wouldn't be able to say I lived with a professional soccer player for a year (who always hid fake poop in my room-weird, right?). And lastly, I also would have never had the opportunity to eat UltraSound Gel. Thanks Britt!
NL: After I walked around campus for the first time, I basically thought it was my destiny to come to Illinois...So I never really considered this. What I do know though is that if I was never involved in athletics or at Illinois, I definitely would have never met some of the greatest people and friends on this planet. Shout out to Michael Heitz, Jake Howe, Andrew Hassiepen, and my 4-year roomie. Aliina, I guess you could be included in that group too.
If you were to will one thing to a teammate you're leaving behind what would it be and who would you leave it to?
MG: I would pass on my bright pink (travel edition) Forever Lazy onesie to Michelle. It really has a way of accentuating curves. Plus the best part is, I have a second one (for at-home use only) so we can match!!
NL: You can't have one without the other, so they come as a 2-for-1 package: All of my capris and my plethora of pun jokes to Alia Abu-Douleh. She understands.
What was your favorite soccer road trip and why?
MG: I loved when we beat Washington State in the NCAA Tournament my junior year. Then we were #blessed to be in all four time zones in one day of travel. From Washington, to connect in Colorado, to a flight into Indianapolis, to a bus ride home to Champaign, we basically traveled the world. But seriously, it was an awesome win, and I was able to cross off being in all four time zones in one day off the bucket list!
NL: The Big Ten Tournament my freshman year. Aliina, Megan and I all were rooming together in one room with Lizzie and Katie in the conjoining room next to us. If you have any idea how our class interacts with one another and how genuinely weird we all are, each in our own different way, then you can understand how this was easily one of the most entertaining weeks of my life. Oh, and the fact that we won. That was a nice bonus. Ring is pretty cool too.
Describe your most embarrassing moment as an Illini.
MG: Hmm let's see...maybe when I ran straight to the trash can to throw up that morning's breakfast after running the fitness test. Or maybe when Jeff snapped a picture of me hugging the trash can...Or maybe when it always manages to appear in pregame videos or countdown to season texts during the summer. IDK you decide!!
NL: It was a Saturday night (freshman year), and the rest of campus was enjoying a night on the town. Megan and I thought we were REALLY cool and thought it would be a great idea to bike around campus and eat at Merry Ann's Diner each in a fluorescent pink Forever Lazy, which are onesies complete with a zipper compartment in case you need to pop a squat on the john. The next day, Janet tells us how she heard about our little adventure. She hasn't let us live it down ever since.
What is your favorite memory of the coaches at Illinois?
MG: I will never forget the dance video they made to a Ke$ha song for a little pregame pump up. I most definitely shed some laughing tears watching it, and I still think they could become YouTube sensations if they were to post it on the Internet.
NL: My sophomore year at NCAA's, they made a choreographed dance video for our pregame film. Best pregame video ever.
What is the best prank you've pulled on a teammate or the coaches at Illinois?
MG: I may or may not of stuck a plastic "bloody" foot in the ice chest before practice one day to scare Britt. Yeah, that didn't really work. Aaaaaaand then it somehow ended up in Janet's locker. Oh what good times!
NL: Michelle said to me one time that she was afraid of her bike getting stolen. I know the code to her lock, so while she was at one of her classes I decided to unlock it from the bike rack and move it to another location. To compensate for her troubles of having to go to its other location, I left her with a complimentary Gospel Acapella CD I had picked up on the quad.
Finally, who do you want to thank?
MG: First of all, I want to thank my parents for the many sacrifices they have made and the continuous support they have provided throughout my entire soccer career. Thank you for being my number one fans and providing me daily with encouragement to work hard and always do my best. The sacrifices you both have made to help me get to where I am today are so greatly appreciated. Thank you to my big brother, Mike, for providing me with the guidance and support to succeed in school. Thank you to my little brother, Jayveonte, for consistently touching my heart and teaching me to keep life's many challenges in perspective. Thank you to my boyfriend, Brad, for an endless amount of love and support and a constant reason I continue to smile. Thank you to the coaching staff for providing me with this special opportunity to play for this program and to be a part of the Illini Soccer family. I am so incredibly fortunate to have grown as not only a player, but a person under your guidance and support. Also, thank you to Julie Ewing for the constant encouragement and support once as a teammate, and now as a coach. Thank you to Brittany for putting up with me through all my many injuries and sending me pictures of cute puppies that make my day. Thank you to Mike Cation for embracing my weirdness and providing me with an endless amount of laughs. Lastly, thank you to each and every one of my teammates that I have had the blessing of playing alongside for these last four years. You've all provided me with some of the happiest memories and greatest experiences of my life. Thank you especially to the entire rest of my graduating class, all one of you, Snoelle. And finally, a special thank you to Allie Pants Osoba, the Krispy to my Kreme, V, and the girl that thinks she's Ke$ha for being some of the greatest friends I could ever ask for and becoming the older sisters I never had.
NL:My parents, of course, for encouraging me and providing me for the opportunity to play soccer. Drake and Kuma for being the ultimate support system and best soccer buddies EVER. Also anyone who has helped me throughout college: my teammates, advisors (Shari), tutors and professors. Lastly, I have to thank my sole classmate for sticking with me and not leaving me on my own: Megan Green. "We are survivors!"
