Unsung Hero: GLAX Goalie Cassidy Novotny

The girls lacrosse program said goodbye to an integral part of its core at the conclusion of the 2012 season: Goalie Cassidy Novotny. Novotny graduated this year and will be continuing her career at Lock Haven University.

Head coach Amy Short believed Novotny was a key part of the team and wanted to award an unsung hero nomination to her.

"Cass has been the varsity goalie for three years," said Short. "You don't really hear a whole lot about goalies. You hear about someone who scored or how many goals somebody put in. Usually at the end, it's the goalie has 11 saves in goal. You don't really realize what that specifically means. I think it's so important to get her the recognition for basically every single game that we owe her that recognition. That win should definitely go to her, because she saved us so many times."

Novotny was honored to hear of her coach's praises.

"My coach pulled me aside and told me she was putting me up for it," she said. "I was taken aback at first. After a while, there's so many names of the speakers saying so-and-so scored. You never get that recognition. You get that little sentence in the paper, but it's always more exciting to hear. As a defensive position, you take it. That's just how it is. I was really touched. She does know how hard I worked and I like that she recognized me."

On the field, Novotny was a vocal leader, telling her teammates where the ball was and who to go after. Short said Novotny played a quick and tough style, despite being smaller than the average goalie.

Novotny, however, said it was not her skillset that helped her career, but her mental attitude.

"Over the years, my mentality is my key factor in what keeps me in the game," she said. "You can be a good goalie skill-wise, but without a great mentality throughout the whole game, something could go wrong. Your play is not going to be up to par. You do have to be a little crazy. The reason I became goalie was I was the only person on my youth team that wasn't afraid of the ball. I would just jump in front of it. You have to be crazy. Most girls said they could never do it, but you get used to it."

Playing the game since the age of five, Novotny could have become discouraged when she was cut from the seventh grade squad. She came back and made the eighth and ninth grade teams and played varsity her final three years at Spring-Ford.

Novotny's father and two brothers are all former and current lacrosse players. Her father aided in Novotny's college search, sending more than 30 demo tapes out to a plethora of schools. However, Lock Haven University felt right.

"I got an email back from Lock Haven," Novotny said. "She was just like, 'Oh my God, I love your name, I love the music on your CD, I love your video!' It just clicked instantly and I knew where I wanted to go."

Novotny will major in secondary education and hopes to become a teacher and coach someday. For now, she reflects upon her final season and team, which she identified as the best.

"This year is a tougher year than most," she said. "I didn't start the season out as well as I would have liked. I worked through it and did it for my team. I love my team. I would never give up on them. I'm never going to forget this team. We were great. This was the best team I ever played with in Spring-Ford lacrosse."

Short and the Rams will look for a new goalie in 2013, but will not forget the impact Novotny had on the program.

"She will be missed next year in goal, that's for sure," Short said.