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Heart Fitness in State College when she returned to campus last summer. "It sucks at the time," Nairn said, "but it's proven to show results." With better fitness came more consistency, as well as an ability to provide defensive cover – all aspects of the "complete" player Walsh saw emerge last fall. Most comfortable controlling the game from midfield and charging forward in attack, Nairn found herself tasked last season with playing a few games on an injury-depleted back line. "Coach looked at me and said, 'Go play left back.' I was like, Who are you talking about?" Nairn laughed. "But that's the whole mentality of the Penn State program. You do whatever you're asked." The commitment was rewarded last fall. Two memories from Nairn's stellar final season stick out. On the first, she was a spectator: The Lions went to penalties against Michigan in the third round of the NCAA tournament and trailed 2-0 before rallying for a 32 victory. On the second, she was the hero, scoring 72 seconds into overtime to lift Penn State past Florida State in the national semifinal. The run ended with a 4-1 loss to North Carolina in the College Cup final, a disappointing finish that did little to diminish Penn State's best-ever season. Nairn, one of three finalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy as national player of the year last season and now a rookie with the NWSL's Seattle Reign, regards her senior season as nothing less than fulfillment. "I played to the very last day of my college career," she said. "I'll never forget this season. We proved so many people wrong." Except for those – like her coaches – who thought that a fully committed Nairn could lead Penn State to a place among the game's elite. She was happy to prove them right. VISION QUEST With Penn State suffering from scandal fatigue, O'Brien stepped in and changed the narrative, leading the Lions to an 8-4 record in his first season as a head coach. John Beale

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