Virginia senior midfielder Carrie Goodloe chuckled self-consciously when asked about how she got her start playing field hockey.
"I was actually kind of a late bloomer," Goodloe said. "I played soccer when I was young and didn't pick up field hockey until the summer before my freshman year in high school. It was a semester of my eighth-grade gym class."
If only gym class did such monumental things for the rest of us. Goodloe is now embarking upon her final season on the field after four years of field hockey at her high school in St. Louis, four years for the Cavaliers and stints on the U.S. Under-21 and Under-19 national teams.
Playing field hockey has earned her trips to the ACC finals, the NCAA tournament and the U.S. Olympic Team training center in Palo Alto, Calif., where she trained with her Under-21 teammates.
"It was very secluded and beautiful," she said. "It was an amazing place to train. I just loved being there with my teammates."
That comes as little surprise, since Goodloe's cheery personality and upbeat attitude betrayed her love of the team dynamic long before she even had a chance to verbalize it.
She has "people person" written all over her. "I'm such a cheeseball," she admitted. "But my favorite things about hockey are my teammates."
The sense of team unity at Virginia was so strong for Goodloe that she decided not to return to the more individualistic atmosphere of the national team after she became a Cavalier. Virginia coach Jessica Wilk sees the team player in Goodloe as well.
"I'm not sure that I can say enough about what Carrie adds to this team with both her leadership and her skills," Wilk said. "She comes to games and practices giving 100 percent to make herself and the players around her better. She's an unselfish player. She doesn't care if she gets her name in the paper; she just wants this team to win. She's an incredible athlete."
On the field, Goodloe has been a powerhouse for Virginia, leading the team in assists for the last two years and tying a school record with 19 assists during her sophomore season. Perhaps she owes a little of that success to talent and hard work, a little to '80s metal groups like Poison that fire her up before games, and a little to her father, who is always on the sidelines.
"My role model in all things is my dad," Goodloe said. "He has supported me in everything. He flies out to every game from St. Louis and I talk to him every day on the phone."
Goodloe will graduate from the Commerce School this spring with one eye on a job in sports marketing and the other on making sure the caterer is not double-booked: Goodloe plans to wed her high school sweetheart, also a Virginia graduate, in Aspen, Colo., in June. For now, however, there's one final ACC title run to make.
"Obviously my goals this season are ACC and NCAA championships," Goodloe said. "I truly believe that this team has the chemistry and the heart to do it."
With Goodloe leading the way, you can bet the entire team will be in good spirits for the whole journey.
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