Mew's Views: Senior Week

Senior midfielder Sam Mewis is back for season two of Mew's Views. Mewis helped lead UCLA to its first-ever NCAA Championship in 2013 and is back for her senior season with the added arsenal of experience playing with the full U.S. Women's National Team under her belt. Mewis, a three-time all-conference player and a 2013 NSCAA Scholar All-West Region selection, has scored 72 points on 24 goals and 24 assists in her UCLA career.

After coming away from a really important weekend with two huge wins, I want to dedicate this week’s blog post to our seniors. There are nine of us who will be celebrating our UCLA soccer careers tomorrow at our Senior Night game against Arizona. The game marks our last regular season home game, and we don’t know where the time has gone. I want to highlight all of my fellow seniors’ accomplishments over the past four years.

First, here’s a quick recap of last weekend. Going into the Stanford game, we felt prepared and ready for a challenge. We went down a goal in the second half and immediately fought back hard for an equalizer. Ally Courtnall came up huge with a left-footed goal to tie it up. A few minutes later, Annie Alvarado scored her first collegiate goal to win the game for us. It was kind of a flashback to Lauren Kaskie’s overtime goal last year against Stanford. It was such an exciting win and led us right into a great all-around performance on Monday against Cal. We were able to beat Cal, 3-0, to finish off the weekend with a bang.

This senior class is one for the books. We came to UCLA as the number one recruiting class and are leaving as one of the most talented classes that I can imagine. It is truly a treat to be able to play with these women every day at practice. I believe that my development as a player has improved drastically because of the talent that I am consistently surrounded with. The past three years with these girls have been the most incredible years of my life. I have the most amazing memories with all of them and have learned so much about myself through their influence. I want to share a little bit of each of them and a little bit of what they have done for this program.

Katelyn Rowland has been the starting goalkeeper since she was a freshman. She has broken the record for career shutouts (currently with 46), and allowed only seven goals all season in our 2013 Championship season. She was the starting goalkeeper for the U-20 Women’s World Cup team this past summer in Canada. Not only is Katelyn one of the hardest-working and most conscientious soccer players that I know, she is also one of the goofiest, funniest dancers in the world. With no sense of self-consciousness, Katelyn breaks it down in the locker room before every single game. Her energy brings all of us to another level, and the team would not be the same without her chicken legs.

Megan Oyster demanded a starting position at center back last season. She worked her way into the Top 5 fittest players at the beginning of preseason this year. Not only did she assist Kodi Lavrusky’s National Championship winning goal in the final game of 2013, she also has a goal and an assist this year and has been a crucial part of both our offense and defense. Megan is an absolute ball of fun and one of the most genuine friends that I have ever had. We were roommates freshman and sophomore year and got ourselves into all kinds of trouble. My favorite memory of Megan is her crowd-surfing at a Matt and Kim concert our sophomore year. Megan is the kind of person who you always want around and the kind of friend that I will make sure I keep close.

Abby Dahlkemper has been the starting center back since her freshman year. She immediately had a leadership role on the team and has won too many awards to count throughout her college career. She was a finalist for the MAC Herman Trophy in 2013 and the winner of the Honda Award. Her academic accomplishments are plentiful, and I’m sure the list of awards for 2014 will be even longer than last year’s! I am so proud of all that Abby has done for this program. Our defensive success has so much to do with her tactical awareness and presence on the field. She is also one of the funniest people I have ever met and never fails to pull out a quote or a scene from an old movie. Abby is an extremely strong and thoughtful individual. Without her, my college experience would not have been the same. I’ll never forget the time she threw the bratwurst in the pool … Don’t ask!

Sarah Killion is hands-down the smartest soccer player that I have ever had the honor of playing with. I think that I have learned more from being on the same field as her for these past three years than I learned in all of my previous years of soccer combined. She has such an eye for the game and is able to implement tactics so effectively. Sarah was called in with the full women’s national team this February and went to the Algarve Cup in Portugal. Furthermore, Sarah has a strong moral compass; I can’t tell you how many times I have thought, “What Would Sarah Do?” Sarah and I shared an incredible experience in 2012 when we won the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan. She played a key starting role on that team and was MVP of our team during our National Championship season the following year. Our friendship is a competitive one, but when it comes down to it, Sarah is someone that I know I can always count on for advice.

Kylie McCarthy has played a really crucial role for our team on and off the field over these last three years. Though she occasionally appears to be in her own world (i.e. the Most Likely to Have A Blank Stare on Her Face superlative), Kylie brings a unique presence to the field in her ability to dribble and get a shot off under pressure. She has five career goals and has been an extremely successful student. Kylie is majoring in Political Science and plans to graduate in the spring. She is currently applying to sales and consulting positions at various companies. I have no doubt that Kylie will go on to have an extremely successful career in whatever direction she decides to go. The thing I’ve learned about UCLA is that we are all here because we have the desire to be great; Kylie is a perfect example of that. She has worked so hard throughout her soccer career and has contributed so much to this soccer program.

Caprice Dydasco brings an incredible dynamic to our back line with her 1v1 ability both defensively and offensively. Caprice has been a kind of unsung hero for the past three years, always doing the dirty work and being where she needs to be. Her kindness makes her one of our strongest natural leaders; the best leaders are the ones that truly care about their peers. Caprice’s hospitality and generosity has impressed and humbled me since I first met her. I love the way she can laugh off almost anything, even when it is inappropriate to be laughing. Caprice is open-minded and willing to be independent and branch out. She has been so supportive in organizing pregame chapel for all who are interested and really makes everyone on the team feel comfortable to be who they are. My favorite thing about Caprice is the way she handles herself in stressful or difficult situations. She always puts others before herself and reacts positively and selflessly. Her impact on this team and in my life cannot be overstated.

Ally Courtnall brings a whole new level of impressiveness to our class. Ally models, sings, runs track, plays soccer, and is a successful student in the prestigious Communication Studies major. After almost quitting soccer to pursue all of these other avenues, Ally decided to play last year and ended up scoring the semifinal goal that sent us to overtime against Virginia. She has been an absolute terror on the right flank these past two years with her speed and versatility, both going forward and tracking back. I spent Thanksgiving with Ally’s family freshman year and lived with her sophomore year. I could not have been more pleased that she decided to continue playing last year. I have learned a lot from Ally’s tenacity and dedication to her future. She has literally put herself in a position to pursue professional soccer, professional track and field, modeling, singing, a career in communications, or a continued education. Ally’s success has inspired me to want to be better in all areas.

Rosie White may very well be the most decorated international athlete at UCLA. Not only has Rosie played in numerous Youth World Cups for the Football Ferns of New Zealand, but she was also a member of the 2012 London Olympic Team and the 2011 Women’s World Cup team. She has competed at the highest level of competition that there is for women’s soccer players. Rosie has brought all of her experience to UCLA in a way that will leave a lasting impression on the program. Beyond her soccer ability and experience, Rosie has brought a world of knowledge and insight into our lives. She sees everything as an opportunity for adventure and reminds me to live in the moment and to not stress about the small things. Rosie has let me cry on her shoulder more times than you would even believe over the past three years. She has shown loyalty and support in some of the toughest situations and is also the kind of friend who can make me laugh about literally anything. She always comes to concerts with me even if she doesn’t like the band. Rosie has changed the way I see the rest of the world and myself in a way that only the truest of friends can.

This senior class is remarkable in so many ways. I wouldn’t change one thing about any of these girls. It is so humbling to belong to such an amazing senior class; I’m really glad that tomorrow night isn’t our last game! We still have five more Pac-12 games after this and hopefully a long tournament run. Come out to Drake tomorrow night at 7pm to support these seniors and the rest of the team as we take on Arizona. Go Bruins!

Sam Mewis