Junior Alyssa Lazaro has been working for this moment since she was eight years old. Her decision is finally made.  All of her hard work has culminated to this single biggest accomplishment in her time as an athlete. On Sept. 27, Lazaro committed to Jacksonville University, a Division 1 school in Florida, to play lacrosse in college.

Lazaro began playing lacrosse after she quit gymnastics due to the amount of time needed when she was eight years old. “It was a lot of work for me at that age,” Lazaro said. Her father, a lacrosse player at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, convinced her to try the sport. She was hooked after that.

Lazaro currently plays midfield/attack for varsity, and plans to play it in college as well. She has been playing on varsity since her freshman year. Lazaro said her favorite part of lacrosse is that she “gets to play against tough competition in games and have fun while doing it.”

She has now reached the peak of her lacrosse career so far, saying committing to Jacksonville was her biggest personal achievement. Lazaro said she was also looking into the University of Connecticut and Virginia Tech for college. “I chose Jacksonville because I was drawn to the coach’s philosophy on lacrosse,” she said.

Lazaro said that she believes the transition to college lacrosse from high school will be challenging. “I think it will be more demanding every day no matter what the situation, and we will be working out more often,” Lazaro said.

Lazaro does believe she can make the transition in terms of level of skill. “I think it is something to adjust to but in that atmosphere, with all those good players, it will come eventually,” she said.

“I am super excited, but really anxious about it,” Lazaro said.

Cole Alban is a Managing Editor for The Patriot and jcpatiot.com