This past summer during the hottest months of the year, Alexis Horst woke up before 7 a.m. to workout with Penn State performance enhancement coach Steve Cuccia and her teammates on campus to beat the heat.
The summer workouts were hard, not only because of the intensity of the training but also due to the time of the workouts.
Horst, who lived at teammate Maddie Morano's house in State College during the summer, said she knew if she stayed in town over the summer then she would have to go to workouts and have to get it done.
"I really couldn't make any excuses for myself," Horst said. "Steve (Cuccia) got after it with us and he said 'It's going to be a hard summer and we're going to do a lot of things and it's going to be early in the morning but we've got to get it done'."
Horst says the hard work she put in throughout the summer helped her with the transition from last spring to this fall but the redshirt sophomore's transition from high school to college was not as straightforward.
When Horst joined the field hockey program as a freshman in 2016, Penn State had an experienced team and the competition on the field was tough so everyone had to compete for a spot. Horst did not know a lot about what to expect or what was expected of her when she joined the program but she came in and did what the veteran players told her to do. After trying to do what the older players were doing and realizing how tough the competition was, Horst decided to redshirt her freshman year.
"My freshman year was a learning and growing moment for me to step back, not play, see what Penn State field hockey was all about and watch," Horst said. "Then learn enough so my sophomore year I could play."
Horst struggled at first with not playing but realized redshirting gave her the opportunity to grow, learn and gain experience watching from the sideline and in practice. She also struggled balancing the demand of college athletics and academics. However, after developing a schedule and routine, Horst was able to overcome those challenges by being proactive.
After overcoming those early challenges, Horst entered her sophomore year ready to take the field and play.
"I was nervous," Horst admitted about making her debut. "I had been playing in practice and in scrimmages but to go in for my first game for Penn State field hockey, I was just nervous because it was my time to prove what I'd been practicing for was worth it and make a point that it was a good decision to redshirt my freshman year."
Horst noted she was also really excited and confident about taking the field for the first time since she spent the previous year learning.
In Penn State's home opener vs. Temple, Horst scored her first collegiate goal and was congratulated by her teammates, who celebrated the accomplishment with her.
"All the girls just bringing it in, hugging me, smiling and shaking me like 'Oh my gosh, your first goal' was great," Horst said.
Horst did not celebrate for long as her focus was on continuing to improve. She was excited about scoring her first goal but was eager to keep learning and improving.
Horst went on to play in both of Penn State's NCAA tournament games last November, which both were decided by one goal.
"It was high stakes but knowing I had the girls there behind my back empowered me to play well honestly," Horst said. "We talk about how important confidence is and how we get confidence from each other and I knew the girls had my back and I had their backs."
Following the NCAA tournament and her sophomore year, Horst returned to her hometown of Port Trevorton, Pennsylvania to spend time with her family and relax.
Growing up Horst and her family were always outdoors doing activities like kayaking. The family has a campsite on the Susquehanna River and when Horst was in high school her dad bought a boat and jet skis for the family. When Horst was home for the first part of summer break and came home during the weekends later in the summer, her dad would put the boat and the jet skis in the water, so the family could go out on the river.
"I would just go out and have fun," Horst said. "It was nice because it was time to relax before it was time to get into field hockey and it was a good time with my family."
While Horst trained in the mornings with Cuccia and her teammates, she also worked for Gatorade with teammates Katie Dembrowski and Jenny Rizzo this past summer, filling up Gatorade stations around campus at sports camps.
All the hard work Horst put in during the summer has paid off this season, as she is tied with teammate Emily Klingler, who she has played field hockey with since middle school, for second on the team with six goals.
"She just has gained more confidence, better fitness and she's just willing to take chances," Penn State head coach Char Morett-Curtiss said.
Penn State assistant coach Stuart Smith has emphasized a "greenlight mentality" in practice this season and Horst has taken the mentality into games.
"(Coach) Stuart's always on us about just shooting and if he sees anyone hesitate he pulls them to the side and says 'Hey greenlight mentality, you know the drill'," Horst said. "I think ingraining that into our heads during practice is something that helps us take it to the games."
"What we like about Lexi now is she's ready to shoot when she steps in the circle and that's really what you want from your forward line players," Morett-Curtiss said.
Horst has taken a weight off her shoulders this season by understanding everything does not have to be perfect and not every goal is going to be pretty. However, execution is still really important to Horst and something she wants to improve on. The way Horst attacked working out this past summer will be the same way she approaches executing in the shooting circle moving forward.
"I think that if people are eager enough to be relentless in the circle and if I can just improve on that myself and have that greenlight mentality, we would be more successful," Horst said.
