Three times an All-American, twice an All-Ivy and All-Region first team member, Jaimee Reynolds can add two more honors to an already impressive list; she has recently earned back-to- back Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week awards.
“For the first award, I found out from my mom, who e-mailed me. The second time it was some friends of mine who checked the website,” Reynolds said. When asked if this was typical, she responded, “They just post them and people randomly say congratulations.”
When questioned about what it was like to win consecutive awards, Reynolds was slightly mystified in regards to her achievements.
“I think what surprises me is that it was a defensive award. I felt I was more on the offensive end,” she said.
Though excited, she also felt that there were other equally deserving players who contributed largely in the Red’s recent victories. “I don’t feel that I personally am the number one contributor for everything, but I’ll be there when I’m needed. When the games get close, we all step up when needed,” said Reynolds.
“She has performed consistently and she’s definitely put up numbers on both offense and defense,” stated women’s lacrosse head coach Jenny Graap ’86. In regards to what it is like to coach Reynolds, Graap replied, “It’s exciting to coach someone of her caliber. It’s also challenging. She is so gifted that you look to help fine tune parts of her game to perfection.”
In regards to the back-to-back awards, Graap felt that it was merited mostly by Reynolds’s continued hard work and shift in her playing style.
“What I’ve seen in Jaimee is that she’s come from being 100 percent defensively minded, and she has really adapted to become more offensively minded,” noted Graap, later adding that Reynolds’s strengths lie in being able to contribute on both ends of the field.
Reynolds earned her first award coming off a weekend win of 16-4 over Columbia. Her contribution to the Red’s win included three caused turnovers, four ground balls, and three draw controls. Reynolds also came up big in the offensive effort, scoring four goals and one assist.
This week’s honor was earned with efforts from a pair of victories over current No. 14 Notre Dame and then No. 18 Pennsylvania. Between the two games Reynolds led the defensive effort with a combined three turnovers, seven ground balls, and six draw controls. She also scored a team-best seven points on five goals and two assists.
Reynolds feels that the awards can be seen as the Ivy League recognizing the top status of Cornell’s program and that the Red is a contender for the title. When asked about the team’s upcoming matchup with No. 2 Princeton, the senior midfielder was both confident and grounded.
“I am trying to prepare for one of the most exciting games of our season. They are going to give us a challenge, and we are going to put up a fight,” declared Reynolds.
Archived article by Matt Janiga