UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – As the regular season finale looms, Penn State women's lacrosse's seven seniors are facing their final games in the Blue and White.
"It makes me excited and sad," senior midfielder Reilly Masterson said. "I'm excited for the future but sad to leave my team. I feel like this year in general, our team has just been super close and my class is closer than it ever has been before. Coming up, knowing these are going to be some of our last games, I'm definitely getting a little nostalgic playing on the field."
Masterson and the rest of the senior class have had their fair share of success at Penn State, enjoying back-to-back Final Four berths in 2016-17 and NCAA Tournament appearances in all three of their seasons on campus so far. The 2016 trip in particular was a special one for Masterson.
"My favorite memory is from freshman year when we went to the Final Four in Philadelphia, and I'm from Philly," Masterson said. "When we were getting off the bus, there was a fence and all these fans behind it. Everyone was cheering, and it was just the coolest thing to think that they all came to watch us win."
It's going to be a bittersweet couple of weeks for Masterson, as the Nittany Lions make their push to the NCAA Tournament knowing that it will be the last go-around for this senior class.
"As a class, we've always been really close. We had some additions and some losses, but in general we've been a super welcoming class," Masterson said. "We're all very different but we all respect and admire each other for our differences. I think that's what makes us so close and why we're all best friends. I'm going to miss the people, the team in general. It's just such a family and I feel like they're all my sisters."
Masterson attributes a lot of her personal development to her time on the team as well, citing her teammates and coaching staff as people who have helped her mature.
"I've grown a lot. Coming in, I think I was a little immature and I wasn't exactly sure what being a D-I athlete would be like," Masterson said. "I've learned a lot from mistakes and just grown as a person. Penn State has taught me everything."
After graduation, Masterson will be working with Oracle in Boston as part of their sales department. The position and the move bring a lot of excitement, but she cautioned that with some advice to her younger teammates.
"Live it up, it goes by really fast. Enjoy every moment, even the moments that you think are not the best, because you're going to look back and miss it."
Regardless of how far the Nittany Lions make it in this year's postseason, Saturday will be the final game for this senior class at Panzer Stadium.
"You can always count on the vibes being great with the parents and the fans, but we're going to be super sad with all of the seniors leaving," Masterson said.
