UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – To have your name listed among the best players in your sport is always an honor, and Penn State women's lacrosse senior Kayla Brisolari found herself in that situation last week. Brisolari was one of 10 players added midseason to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List, an annual award given to the top player in both men's and women's collegiate lacrosse. Brisolari joins teammate Madison Carter on the list.
"It's super cool, incredible. I'm humbled by it just seeing the names on the list," Brisolari said. "It's a testament to the program that's been built here. If we weren't successful as a team and winning games, then I wouldn't have that opportunity. It's really cool for me but I think it speaks more to the team and what we've been able to build over the last few years."
Now in her senior season, Brisolari has a chance to start to reflect on her career, embracing all of the accomplishments throughout her four-year career that led her to being recognized for this prestigious award.
"It's weird being a senior because you think about the significance of playing, especially when you're home and just kind of enjoying every moment and not letting that get away from you through the highs and lows of the season," Brisolari said. "It's different, for sure, experience-wise, but I'm enjoying it just as much as my prior three years and just trying to focus on each day at a time."
With 15 goals and five assists on the season, Brisolari is third on the team in points and continues to be a leader on offense. In Carter's absence, Brisolari has seen her role blossom as she has become the main catalyst for the Nittany Lion attack.
"Madison Carter is a great player and she's irreplaceable," Brisolari said. "I think that every team in the NCAA has injuries and they have great players fall, but I don't think one player dictates an entire team."
Brisolari and the Nittany Lions have embraced their new roles on the team, and they've used the past few games as a chance to regain their focus and try to get back to their winning ways. As far as the future is concerned, all of the team's goals are still intact.
"We have a lot of great, confident players, and some people need to step up into roles where maybe they hadn't previously before, but by no means do I think we're going to lose more games," Brisolari said. "We may need to work a little harder and work on communication more, but I don't anticipate getting out any earlier because of that."
From a leadership perspective, Brisolari credits the rest of the team for being willing to adapt and making her job much easier.
"I'm really lucky in that everyone comes and works really hard at practice," Brisolari said. "I don't need to motivate anybody from that side of the ball. So just trying to reiterate the highs and lows, and that there are going to be lows, but that doesn't dictate the way we play."
Positivity is something that Brisolari is preaching as the Nittany Lions hit the latter part of the schedule.
"I'm also trying to remind them that we are a great team, we have great players on our team, and we have the ability to win any game that we enter. Trying to keep morale up is definitely the most important goal for me right now," Brisolari said.
That is a sentiment that the team has echoed the past few weeks, as Penn State looks to pick up its first win in the Big Ten on Thursday.
"We need to remind ourselves as we enter every Big Ten game that we're there to win and we're there to be successful," Brisolari said. "If we go into each Big Ten game confident, we should be more than successful."
