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Griffin Finds a Home at Vanderbilt 11/1/2004 by Courtney Dimling Five months ago, Tyler Griffin was running an exterior painting business in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. By November, she ended her first semester at Vanderbilt as one of the strongest goalies the women’s soccer team had ever seen. Coach Ronnie Coveleskie Hill has described Griffin as “the backbone of the defense,” and by the end of the season she had won one of the highest honors for Vanderbilt by being named First Team All-SEC. Her season best was her thirteen saves against Florida on October 10th. Hill explains, “throughout the SEC season, she made that big save in tight games to keep us in the match. Sometimes she saved so big, she ignited our team and play instantly improved.” Griffin is no stranger to intense play, having transferred from North Carolina. Griffin found the team dynamic here at Vanderbilt more fitting to her personality. She notes the Commodores spend as much time together off the field as they do on it. While Tyler Griffin has been playing soccer all of her life, she doesn’t consider it her whole life. While she always saw herself playing college soccer, she has dreams and aspirations that extend far beyond the sports world. She is an economic major and considering applying to law schools in a few years. Creating and running her exterior painting business in Charlotte made her “realize how tough the real world is.” Not surprising considering that while she was in spring training at UNC, she would drive home every weekend, marketing her business door to door and finding future employees. Will she find herself back in North Carolina after graduation? “I don’t know,” she says, “I’ve always had this crazy idea to get a ranch in Montana.” Griffin seems to put her mind to whatever she wants to do, so we may just find her there in a few years. |
