Feb. 18, 2016
By Shannon Rostick, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Most of the players on the Penn State women's lacrosse team committed to the team when they were only halfway through high school. They had time to acclimate to their recruiting class and get familiar with how to play with each other at the college level.
For junior goalkeeper, Cat Rainone, her experience strayed slightly from the norm. Rainone decided late into her senior year that she wanted to play college lacrosse, so she reached out to Penn State head coach Missy Doherty to see if she could play for the team.
"I committed super late my senior year, so by the time I reached out to Missy, she said that I could be on the team, but with all of the scholarship money already given out there just wasn't any money for me at the time," said Rainone.
"I came in with the freshman recruitment class and got to play during my freshman year. I just didn't sign my letter of intent until my sophomore year when I got my scholarship."
Rainone talked a lot about the struggles she faced coming onto the team so late. She said that it was harder for her to break into the group because the other girls in her recruitment class had already met on multiple occasions and had been playing together in recruitment camps since they were sophomores in high school.
"The girls in my class that had I got recruited with had all known each other since their sophomore years when they first got recruited. They had already established friendships with each other so coming in as a sort of outcast was difficult."
Rainone said with all of the girls used to playing on the field together it was hard on her to feel one with the team. Three years later Rainone has definitely overcome that barrier into the group, and has meshed well with the team.
Although getting to know her teammates is no longer a struggle, that does not mean Rainone has not met other struggles while playing with the team.
Playing a college sport is a huge time commitment, and with classes to keep up with every week, Rainone's schedule tends to get pretty full. Rainone is working toward a degree in kinesiology and is working hard to keep a good balance between school and sports.
"My major is kinesiology, which gets kind of tough when you have to do four-hour labs and you don't have time to do those things because it conflicts with practice," said Rainone.
To stay on top of her work, Rainone says that she has to make sure that almost every single minute of her days are pre-scheduled. She also said she has taken a few classes during her summers to ease up her class schedule during the season.
Despite the struggles she has faced initially coming onto the team and keeping her schedule straight and doable, Rainone still enjoys her time with the team and had many positive things to say about her experience as an athlete.
"My favorite part of being on the team is definitely traveling and getting to experience new things. My favorite memory overall would also have to be my freshman year when we played Johns Hopkins," said Rainone.
She has come a long way from her freshman year, and is making the most of her experience with the team and as a student at Penn State. It takes a lot to balance all that Rainone does, but she has been making it work, which speaks a lot for the student-athletes of Penn State
Rainone and the rest of the women's lacrosse team will play their first regular season home game this upcoming weekend, Saturday, February 20 at 2 p.m. against Duquesne University.