Sports
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Monday, Oct. 3, 2016
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Goalkeeper succeeds on and off field Annala to serve at leadership forum Krystal Ward Staff writer
DeKALB | When Amy Annala, women’s soccer junior goalkeeper, was eight years old, she jumped off a swing set and hurt her arm. Annala told her mother, but her mother said she would be ok. Annala went to lie down on the patio and did not think anything of her arm until the next day when her older brother, Jake Annala, jokingly told her to “stop holding your arm like that.”
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She’s very dedicated and willing to put forth the effort that’s necessary to succeed in what she cares about. That’s a characteristic that [will] serve her well — well beyond NIU.” Mark Riley Accountancy professor
Amy Annala tried doing the monkey bars at the playground, but her arm would not hold up. She cried to her parents that she would not be able to do gymnastics in their town festival, which prompted a trip to the doctor. Amy Annala’s arm was broken, but she got a cast and was back on the soccer field the following weekend. Jake Annala said his sister has demonstrated the toughness she plays with on the field since she was a child. “I remember going to a couple
of her soccer games her freshman year of high school, and she wasn’t supposed to be on varsity but really kind of played her way on during tryouts,” Jake Annala said. “You could just tell from day one of high school soccer that she could command the field and people really gave her that respect, and I think that stems from her personality. She didn’t have anything to back herself up on the field yet, but people just wanted to follow her.” Those same leadership skills have carried over to Amy Annala’s collegiate career. She was selected to represent the Mid-American Conference at the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum this November in Baltimore, Maryland, an accomplishment that recognizes her work on and off the field. In 2014, Amy Annala, a freshman at the time, saved two penalty kicks in NIU’s win over Miami University in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals on Miami’s field. “You can see she kind of made her presence known at that moment,” said John Ross, women’s soccer head coach. After a Sept. 23 soccer match, won 4-0 by NIU against MAC opponent Central Michigan University, junior defender Natalia Pena Alex Elias and senior Senior defender defender Alex Elias, who work closely with Amy Annala on the
Atlee Hargis | Northern Star
Junior goalkeeper Amy Annala kicks the ball back into play during a match against Illinois State Sept. 18. Annala is an accountancy major with a 4.0 grade point average.
backline, raved about how they were able to count on her to make the best saves in the MAC. Tuesday afternoon, practice ended and Amy Annala sat on the edge of the soccer field, close to the track, to ice her shoulder. Lauren Gierman, junior midfielder
and Amy Annala’s teammate and roommate, walked over and stood side-by-side with her on the track as they laughed and joked. “We had food fights at our house last year,” Gierman said. “[We got] ketchup on the walls and lemon juice in the eyes.”
Gierman reflected on the time she instigated a food fight by throwing food at their other roommate. Then that roommate Lauren Gierman Junior midfielder attacked Amy Annala with food while Gierman sat back and laughed at the two. Amy Annala’s rap skills are also popular among her teammates and have become synonymous with her fun and alluring personality, according to several teammates. Gierman credited Amy Annala’s original raps and called the goalkeeper’s rap flow “pretty legit.” Mark Riley, Amy Annala’s accountancy professor, said her balance of the demands of being a student and an athlete is remarkable. “She’s very dedicated and willing to put forth the effort that’s necessary to succeed in what she cares about,” Riley said. “That’s a characteristic that [will] serve her well — well beyond NIU.” Amy Annala’s future is one thing her goalkeeper coach Angela Staveskie emphasized the goalkeeper deeply cares about. “She cares about her friends, she cares about her grades, [and] she cares about her future,” Staveskie said. “What you see on the field [with] the impressive numbers, people see in the classroom, people see socially, because she represents not only herself well but the community well and her family and everyone around her.”
Senior men’s golfer possibly seeking redshirt
to qualify and win the tournament. “I’d like to be an All-American first team [and have a] shot at winning the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms,” Lee said in an Aug. 30 interview on his goals for the season. “I think we have a chance to win the MAC for sure and make a run at the [NCAA Championships].” Lee and the coaching staff are trying to come to the realization that it would be best for him to take the process slowly and redshirt him, but it is mostly at the player’s discretion. “It would be a discussion with him and what he wants to do,” Porten said. “Ultimately, it is his decision based on a conversation with our staff.” Porten and the coaching staff are very optimistic about Lee’s return next fall, if he were to be redshirted this year. They want him to have a full senior year season.
Tom Burton Staff writer
DeKALB | The golf staff is deciding how to handle men’s senior golfer Joo-Young Lee, who became concussed mid-September before the start of the season. Lee, of Hillard, Ohio, has been under the NCAA’s concussion protocol since then and has given three baseline tests for return but was unable to get to the level required to return to action. Lee would be allowed to return to action a week after passing the concussion tests. The recovery process has taken longer than expected, presenting Lee and the coaching staff with a decision to make regarding the golfer’s future. “He is getting better, but there are still enough [concussion] symptoms that when he tests, he doesn’t get all the way back to where he was,” said head coach Tom Porten. Student athletes are allowed five years to complete his or her four years of athletic eligibility, which has presented the option of redshirting Lee for the season. Redshirting Lee would give him another year of Tom Porten eligibility, al- Head coach lowing him to return to NIU golf next fall. The coaching staff said the
Courtesy NIU Media Services
Senior golfer Joo-Young Lee is in danger of missing the remainder of the 2016 fall season because of a concussion.
soonest Lee could return if he passed Thursday’s tests would be Oct. 24, the team’s last event of the fall season at the Pine Tree Intercollegiate in Kennesaw, Georgia. However, Lee and the team are accepting that shutting him down for the rest of this season, which picks up again in spring, may be
the best option. “If we’ve lost him in the fall, there is no point in using all of his eligibility for one [spring] semester of golf,” Porten said. “It is definitely a missed opportunity.” Porten said this may be a good opportunity for Lee to get ahead in his business degree, making
golf a priority for Lee in the fall 2017 semester. If redshirted, Lee would miss out on a chance to qualify for the highly anticipated Division I National Championships in May at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. Lee made it a goal of his at the beginning of the season for the team
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If we lost him in the fall, there is no point in using all of his eligibility for one [spring] semester of golf. It is definitely a missed opportunity.” Tom Porten Head coach
For now, Lee can only watch as the team continues its season at the Northern Intercollegiate this weekend at Beverly Country Club in Chicago.