Assistant Sports Editor Josh Zhu sat down with women’s lacrosse senior captain Catie Smith to talk about everything from her proudest accomplishments as an athlete, to her thoughts on the Slope Day artists.
1. How did you become involved in lacrosse?
I had two older brothers and they both played before me, so around the second grade I started to play.
2. Can you tell me about your time in Conestoga High School?
Conestoga is in the suburbs of Philadelphia. All my best friends played lacrosse with me there. My coach played at UNC — she was really awesome — and kind of let us run the team as seniors. That had its ups and downs, but overall I had a really great experience there. In fact, I actually got into Cornell because of a game in high school. The coach came to one of my games in high school, saw me, and that’s actually pretty much how got into Cornell.
3. How did you decide upon playing at Cornell?
Actually when I was a junior in high school, I almost decided I didn’t want to play lacrosse in college anymore because I got missed in the first round of recruiting. I ended up focusing all my time on my high school team. Then in a random game, I scored one of the last goals — I think it may have won the game — and one of the coaches saw me and emailed me. I came up to campus, loved it, and then automatically chose it.
Can you talk a little bit more about that game?
I don’t really remember too well, but I want to say it was a playoff game before the championships. I had an eight meter shot right after the other team committed a foul on me in front of the goal, and I had a couple seconds left so I just ran it in and made it.
4. What is your greatest accomplishment as a Cornell athlete?
I would say winning the Ivy League championship last year. We definitely came in as the underdogs in the tournament, ranked third overall. To come back and beat two teams we had previously lost to in the regular season, Princeton and Penn, was just an awesome feeling. It was also the first time Cornell women’s lacrosse had won an Ivy tournament so it was just awesome.
5. What would you say is the greatest strength of the team this year?
I think the greatest strength is how much everyone supports each other on and off the field. We’re all really close knit friends, so whether someone’s having a bad day, dropped a ball on the field, or missed a goal, we’re all backing each other up 100 percent of the time. That fosters a lot of trust in games and in difficult situations.
6. If you didn’t have to worry about money or a job, where would you live in the world?
Probably Hawaii. I went there for [for the first time] this Christmas break and it was awesome and beautiful and hot, unlike Ithaca. It also had really great food.
7. What do you think about the Slope Day artists?
To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it because we don’t go to Slope Day if we make the NCAA tournament. I do like MisterWives’s “Reflections” and “Our Own House,” but I haven’t heard of any of the other artists. Sorry!
8. What is the most memorable class you’ve taken at Cornell?
Definitely Critical Reading and Thinking. It’s HE 1115 with Prof. Helene Selco and she pretty much helps you manage your life, like writing calendars and stuff. It wasn’t a taxing class, but it was more useful than I thought it would be.
9. Who is one of the biggest inspirations in your life?
I would say my mom. She’s always doing things for other people and putting everyone else first. She’s pretty much taken care of everyone around her and is so humble. My dad too; he’s very humble and has just taught me so many good values in my life.
10. What is something about you that not many people know?
Everyone knows that my two favorite foods are chocolate and strawberries, but I hate chocolate covered strawberries.
Bonus: You only get three words to describe yourself, what are they?
Weird, happy, hungry.