Cavaliers pleased with Alwine’s choice

By Whitey Reid

Published: October 1, 2008

Coming out of Lower Dauphin High School in Elizabethtown, Pa., Lauren Alwine was an All-American in field hockey and soccer. As one would expect, she was recruited in both sports by a number of the top college programs.

In the end, Alwine elected to play soccer at Virginia.

UVa coach Steve Swanson is certainly happy she did.

This season, Alwine leads the ACC in assists with seven. The freshman forward has been instrumental in helping Virginia get off to a great start.

Tonight, No. 11 UVa (8-1-1, 2-0-0 ACC) hosts N.C. State at Klockner Stadium.

After suffering their first loss of the season at West Virginia 11 days ago, the Cavaliers bounced back strong with road wins at Florida State and Miami last week.

“I think the road trip to Florida was great,” Alwine said. “We brought the frustration from that West Virginia loss into the games over the weekend.”

In the win over FSU, Alwine helped break a scoreless tie. In the 77th minute, she beat a defender with a dribble move to the end line and served a ball to the back post where teammate Meghan Lenczyk headed in the winner.

“She’s been so consistent,” Lenczyk said. “For a first-year, she’s so composed and is just great at setting people up. She works well with everyone on the team.

“She’s very modest, very laid-back and composed and calm.”

Alwine and Lenczyk hooked up for another big play in the win over Miami.

In the first half, Alwine intercepted a clearing pass and sent a ball behind the Hurricane defense to Lenczyk, who curled in a shot from outside the box.

“She’s a great athlete,” Swanson said. “I think overall she’s really had an impact. She’s been very dangerous.”

Often times it can take freshmen some time to adjust to the college game. Alwine, however, has been a quick study.

In the team’s first scrimmage against Notre Dame, she hooked up with fellow first-year Maggie Kistner for a score just seconds after entering the contest.

Alwine notched her first career goal against William & Mary on Sept. 12.

“She’s been as good as advertised from the get-go,” Swanson said.

Off the field, Alwine, the 2008 Gatorade Pennsylvania player of the year, seems very introverted. However, that changes quickly come game time.

“She’s a competitor,” Swanson said. “She’s a real warrior. She’ll fight and battle. Just the way she competes has been eye-opening to the team.”

Alwine, whose mother, Diane, is a former college gymnast, received offers from North Carolina, Penn State and Old Dominion to play field hockey. Alwine’s top choices for soccer were Virginia and West Virginia.

“It was really a tough decision as to which [sport] to play in college,” Alwine said.

After Alwine chose soccer, she says she came pretty close to attending West Virginia, whom UVa lost to in front of a rowdy Morgantown crowd on Sept. 21.

“After the loss, my [younger] sister came up to me and said, ‘I’m glad you didn’t go here!’” said Alwine, smiling. “Now that I think about it, I’m glad I didn’t, too.”

Ditto for Swanson.

“She could have played at many of the top [field hockey or soccer] schools,” Swanson said, “but I think her passion lies with soccer… I think she has a lot more growing to do, which is exciting when you look at the impact she’s already had.”