| Allie Daus. |
by TIFFANY WEIMER
GoPSUsports.com
If you were to walk into the women??s soccer team locker room you would see a lot of motivational posters and signs hanging on the walls.. most of them written in the same, distinguishable handwriting.
Sophomore, forward/midfielder, Allie Daus has been instrumental in the success of the women??s soccer team over the last two years, just doing what she knows best.
??She is the pride and passion of the Penn State women??s soccer team,?? said head coach Paula Wilkins. ??She might not get the acknowledgement others do, but she is one of the reasons this program has been so successful.??
Daus hails from Plano, Texas making her the furthest player from home. The Penn State sports camps brought her to the campus when she was in high school, but everything else is what has kept her here.
??The first time I ever came here I fell in love with the spirit of the school and its athletics and with the soccer,?? said Daus. ??The mentality of the program and how close the team is and how hard everyone works for everything and the idea that we have the blue collar mentality is what I love.??
The idea she fell in love with is the exact thing she exemplifies everyday as a student-athlete here. It hasn??t taken her long to understand the tradition that comes along with being an athlete at a school where tradition is everything.
??This year our team??s motto is pride,?? said Daus. ??Putting on the jersey you are part of all the tradition of all the people who came before you, and you get to be a part of it and it??s something I??m really proud of and it??s really special that you can share that pride with your friends and teammates.??
Daus has become an integral part of one of the most prominent soccer programs nationally and has done so in a way that has earned her the utmost respect from her teammates.
??Seriously she's one of those people that every team should be jealous they don't have,?? said senior midfielder Sarah Dwyer. ??Because she is one of the most positive and fun people to be around and definitely brings motivation to a new level.??
A true testament of a player is not what coaches think of them or what fans think of them or what anyone thinks of them except for their teammates. They are the people who know you best?? they are your equals and more importantly your friends.
??Daus brings to the team a personality that cannot be duplicated,?? said junior midfielder Kaleen Adami. ??She works as hard as all of us on the field but works harder than anyone else off the field, behind the scenes. She has the ability to pull our team through difficult times and carry us through triumphant times. She is a player who exemplifies true Penn State pride.??
| Teammates vote Daus as the player with the "Most Spirit" and gave her this trophy. |
On the bus ride to every game, the team has a spirit contest. The players do anything in their power to win the spirit award before the game??be it screaming, singing, jumping around, bringing props; just being as creative as possible. Daus was given the ??Big Ten??s Spirit of the Year?? award and received a trophy from her teammates.
??I try to make motivation fun,?? said Daus. ??I make posters and games before games?? anything that triggers excitement in people to win.??
Recalling her best Penn State soccer memory, she describes beating Santa Clara last year in the elite eight, getting their ticket to the College Cup in College Station, Texas.
??It was the coldest I had ever been in my entire life,?? says the Texas native. ??But the emotion that took over my body made me not feel a thing after the whistle blew.??
Moments like that don??t happen for teams without players like Daus though and that makes her priceless to the team. She is the binding that keeps them together, likely without even knowing it.
??She is seriously the most motivating and selfless person on the team,?? said junior forward Aubrey Aden-Buie. ??She always puts others first. She loves to compete and loves to play and you know that she's behind you all the time.??
Since she first became a Nittany Lion, Allie Daus has been making the experience an incredible one for the people around her, not missing a step in doing the same for herself.
??There are so many things here that I love,?? said Daus. ??I would never change this for anything else. I??ve only been here for two years and I have had experiences that I wouldn??t trade for a lifetime.??