Madeline Pohmer, a senior at Liberty, committed to continue her academic and lacrosse future at the University of Cornell last fall. Pohmer has played on Liberty’s varsity lacrosse team since her freshman year and has been an asset beyond her athletic capabilities ever since.
“Lacrosse has definitely put me in a leadership role, on and off the field, and my success in Lacrosse has allowed me to affect underclassmen and the upcoming OYAA players as well,” Pohmer said.
Madeline started playing lacrosse, thanks to her parents, in kindergarten and has never lost the passion and drive that she has for the sport. Madeline has many lacrosse inspirations that she has watched over the years and have helped her form goals of her own.
“I really like Sam Apuzzo. She played for Boston College, and I feel like she’s a very similar player to me in terms of our style. She’s more of a finesse player, rather than just like power, so I like to watch what she does because it equally translates to me and shows me that I can be as successful as her.” Pohmer said.
The recruitment policy waits until September first of your junior year to allow college level coaches to start contacting you personally. With an athlete at Madeline’s level, this process can easily seem very stressful and overwhelming but Pohmer turned to her club lacrosse coach to help her through the process.
“She was really good at being transparent about everything and she was very helpful in talking to coaches as well,” Pohmer said.
Many schools were eager at the opportunity to have Pohmer play for them in the future so the decision on what school to continue her future at became very difficult for Madeline.
“I was close to picking Lafayette to play with Isabelle, but I wanted to do my own thing, so I picked Cornell.
Cornell offers a great balance for student athletes when it comes to their academics and athletics. This drew Pohmer’s attention because even though lacrosse means so much to her she also values her academics to set a strong foundation for her future.
“Beyond the balance of school and sports I also really liked the coach when I went on my visit. Their whole program is centered around different traditions which I really liked,” Pohmer said.
Being a student athlete also comes with many responsibilities and expectations. The responsibilities mean different things for different people and for Madeline it is more about integrity and balance.
“I think it just means, like, balancing very well and just like staying focused on, like, the most important things and like what you have to get done. Like, school always comes first and then, like your athletics,” Pohmer says.
There’s many things for Pohmer to look forward to at Cornell with new experiences behind every corner and Pohmer is eager to start this new chapter of her lacrosse career.
“My goal is to be positive for whatever role they put me in and know that nothing is permanent. I’m also really excited to challenge myself and to meet new people,” Pohmer says.
