May 12, 2010
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With age comes limitations, but for Vanderbilt goalie Natalie Wills, age is no limitation. Just a sophomore, Wills has already gone places in lacrosse that most will never go in their careers. After completing her freshman season at Vanderbilt in 2009, Wills made the U.S. Developmental team where she was the youngest goalie on the roster and one of just four rising sophomores on the entire team that is mostly comprised of college graduates. A native of Kent Island, Md., Wills is one of 16 players on Vanderbilt’s roster from Maryland.
On being on the U.S. Developmental team
To be a part of the U.S. program is something that I’ve always dreamed of, and to wear USA across your chest is such a huge honor. I don’t know if words can describe how much it means to me. I’m really just seeing what lacrosse means to me and how far it can take me across the country and the world.
On when she began playing lacrosse
I’ve played since I was six years old, but no one in my family really played lacrosse because it’s still a relatively new sport. My sister played softball in high school and I played both, softball and lacrosse, up until high school. I decided to become a full-time goalie and lacrosse player once high school hit. On having so many teammates from her home state In my class, seven out of the 10 are from Maryland, and we all played each other in competition. A few of the girls were on my club team that played against Ally Carey and Courtney Kirk, who were our main competitors. Courtney was a rival when I was a kid, and now she is one of my best friends. It’s funny how you get to see a whole new side of people, which is guided by the love of the game of lacrosse.
On teammate Catherine Carr
I’ve been in school with Catherine since kindergarten. We played on the same middle school team, high school team, club team and now college. I was the first one to commit out of my class. We didn’t pick Vanderbilt together, we both chose it for different reasons.
On how much it helped with the transition to college to have so many friends at school
It absolutely helped. I think that’s one of the best things about being on a team in general. Coming in as a freshman, I had 25 best friends already.
On the team’s trip to Europe this past summer
That was amazing. Once again, the sport of lacrosse has opened so many doors for me and taken me to a fabulous academic school, a top 10 lacrosse program, and places around the world I could never go on my own. Europe was great to see, as far as the culture, and then we also got to play against international competition from Austria and the Czech Republic.
