ELIZA MELIA NO. 22
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
MIDFIELD
Q: Why did you choose Virginia Tech?
Melia: Well, I originally came here just as a practice, just meeting some of the coaches. Then I came here and I just loved everything about it. Everything from the athletic facilities to the education, I'm a physics major and the academics here are ridiculous for that. The general feel of the school, when you say this is home, it really is to a lot of people.
Q: What was your favorite thing about your visit?
Melia: Probably the Oasis and then for the official visit, probably "Enter Sandman" at Lane Stadium. The first time, I didn't know what it was until it was happening. I couldn't breathe. I was like, 'This is the coolest thing ever!' It was so much fun.
Q: What do you like about Coach Sung and the lacrosse program?
Melia: He built himself up first and he knows how to work hard. That means he has high expectations for us and he wants us to work hard too. He always gives you an opportunity to improve. If you go to his office, he'll always tell you specific things you can work on to get better. Some coaches won't really do that. They'll just kind of throw you to the side and focus on starters. He really tries to develop each player.
Q: What are some of your strengths on the field?
Melia: I'm pretty scrappy especially with 50-50 balls. I get a lot of ground ball stats. I'm pretty explosive so that's how I can get in front of people. I'm really good in between the 30's, so I'm really good at transitioning the ball and getting that stuff done. I have really strong one on one defense.
Q: Who is your favorite professional lacrosse player?
Melia: I grew up really loving Katrina Dowd. She played for Northwestern. She was sick, she was so good. The biggest influence on my lacrosse career is probably Rob Slade who was my trainer back at home. He started training me when I was 11 and I decided I wanted to play D1 lacrosse. He's the one who trained me every day since then.
Q: What is your most memorable lacrosse moment and why?
Melia: There's so many. All of senior year, I had a lot of highlights because I pretty much played the whole time. Then I actually had a small tear in my MCL and I had to be on the sideline for two weeks and that was probably the most exciting part of the season because I couldn't be on the field, I just had to hype everyone up. It was kind of cool to see the other side. For club, in our last summer, we won two of the three championships we were in and each one of those was just so exciting. Yeah, we beat like all of our rivals, Skywalkers, it was big.
Q: What interests you about physics?
Melia: It kind of explains how everything works in the world. I really like nature and understanding how our ecosystem works. I'm going into environmental conservation eventually. Physics does a really good job of explaining why things happen. I like being able to connect the two.
Q: What has been your favorite part about Virginia Tech so far?
Melia: People. The people are so awesome here. Everyone here is just so friendly. I already have some of the best friends that I've ever had. The people on the team are awesome. We're all friends and it's really cool that everyone is a family.
If you couldn't play college lacrosse, what other sport would you want to try?
Melia: Field Hockey, but the ball scares me during the corners.
What do you like to do in your free time?
Melia: I like to go out on hikes, take my camera out and take pictures.
