The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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16 THE WOLVERINE OCTOBER 2018 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Student-Athlete Of The Month Field Hockey Junior Midfielder Guadalupe Fernandez Lacort Of the 23 student-athletes on Michigan's 2018 field hockey team, six of them hail from outside the United States. England, Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand all lay claim to a lone respective player on U-M's roster, while Argentina declares two as its own, including junior midfielder Guadalupe Fernandez Lacort. Despite being a junior, last year was actually Lacort's first season in Ann Arbor — she spent her freshman campaign at Universidad Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The midfielder made a significant impact both on the field (started all 24 games and fin- ished with a team-high 11 assists) and in the classroom (highest GPA on the squad) in her first year with the Maize and Blue in 2017. "It was challenging balancing both," she explained. "But if you just take it one step at a time and do a little bit of schoolwork each day, you'll be able to manage it well. "If you put things off and don't do anything for days at a time, though, it'll pile up and you'll be in trouble." Having the opportunity to be a full-time college student-athlete is actually one of the aspects that attracted Lacort to Michigan from her hometown of Buenos Aires, along with some persuasion from a friend who followed a similar path. "I've always wanted to have the chance to study economics [her major], and I think it's so interesting the way they make both academics and athletics work here in the U.S. at the same time," she noted. "I also have a friend who's going to Louisville, and she talked to me about the idea of coming to this country, and I was very intrigued by it. "I got in touch with some people here at Michigan, and within three months, I was here." Making the transition to the United States — especially linguistically — was a challenge, Lacort admitted, but she revealed that persevering through U-M's English classes has per- sonally been her biggest academic accomplishment. "I assumed coming in it would be very difficult in the English courses, because we actually don't really write papers back home," she revealed. "It was hard for me at first — I've always hated writing, but I've pushed through it." That determination in the classroom will soon lead to a Michigan degree for Lacort, who admitted she doesn't quite know yet what she wants to do with it once she has it in hand. "It will be huge," the midfielder ex- claimed. "I have a different idea every day as to what I want to pursue with it. I do know, though, that I would like to travel the world to see other cultures and find out how people live in different countries around the globe. "A Michigan degree would help tre- mendously with that." Before that, though, Lacort still has two field hockey campaigns to complete for the Maize and Blue, including this year's. The Wolverines are coming off a 2017 season that saw them claim both the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, but the Argentinian insisted the hunger is still there for this 2018 squad. "I want us to do even better than we did last year, and that means getting the championship," she confirmed. "For me personally, I just want to keep growing and getting better as a player in all as- pects on the field." — Austin Fox Lacort started all 24 games in the midfield last year, led the team with 11 assists and was named NFHCA All-West Region second team. PHOTO BY SAM JANICKI/MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Getting To Know Women's Soccer Junior Midfielder Brooke Cilley Women's soccer junior midfielder Brooke Cilley has made a significant impact at U-M ever since she stepped on campus. The California native ap- peared in 13 games as a freshman in 2016, before finishing in a tie for the team lead in assists with five last year despite missing six games due to injury. Through Michigan's first eight con- tests of 2018, she has started all six games she played in and logged 477 minutes, which ranks eighth on the squad. Here are a few other interesting facts you may not have known about Cilley: Nickname: "Coach [Jennifer] Klein calls me Brookie, which makes some people laugh. I don't have any crazy or fun nicknames other than that, though." Favorite restaurant in Ann Arbor: "Aventura is really good, and I also like Pretzel Bell." Best meal she can cook by herself: "It'd have to be a shrimp stir fry." Sports she plays besides soccer: "When I was younger, I wanted to get into gymnastics, but was never that great at it. My youngster sister is a gymnastics champion, though, so I'm pretty jealous of her." Hobbies: "I like drawing a lot. I also like spending time with friends Cilley was elected as a team captain before the start of the 2018 campaign. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS