That’s when Bill threw a third move:
With a spring-loaded drop step, she halted and spun back to her right. As Hadnagy lunged at thin air, Bill fired an open shot from just 5 yards out that snapped the net’s top right corner. “That was one of the most amazing goals, and it was something only she would be able to do,” North Carolina coach Jenny Levy said. “There’s nothing [Bill] can’t do on the field. She’s a crazy athlete, she has great hands, she’s very unselfish with great vision. But when the game is on the line, she knows she is the one who has got to get it done.”
TIME OUT
Bill finished the game with three goals and two assists, matching Maryland’s Taylor Cummings in the Tar Heels’ 9-8 loss in the NCAA semifinals in Chester, Pa., and looking like the anchor around which the Tar Heels would reload the next season. Surprising her coaches, teammates and the rest of the college lacrosse world, however, Bill sat out the 2016 season. Though just a sophomore in 2015, Bill already was four seasons into her NCAA career. Along with starting every game for North Carolina’s lacrosse team since arriving as a freshman, she was a key defender for North Carolina’s dominant soccer team.
Even as she put on a show in the 2015 title game, Bill said, she was mentally exhausted and could feel her performance slipping. She felt less and less in control of her own life and under unrelenting pressure.
“Just going since eighth grade until
now, being always in-season takes a toll mentally and physically. I was at a point where I thought, ‘I can be so much better if I can just step back,’” said Bill, who also played basketball and ran track at St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) High School. “I wanted to focus more academically, but it was also, ‘Hey, take a step back mentally. Take a break.’” As the fall of 2015 approached, Bill decided to redshirt in soccer. Most college athletes play several sports in high school, often at elite levels. But few try to continue in college, where most programs have year-round commitments. There are exceptions. Duke’s Katie Trees and Stanford’s Hannah Farr both played full soccer and lacrosse careers through 2015. North Carolina’s other soccer-lacrosse standout Katie Brooks played for both teams from 2004 to 2009, redshirting lacrosse in 2008.
Bill originally planed to return for lacrosse. But as spring approached, she decided against it.
“I tried to get back on the field after 24 US LACROSSE MAGAZINE January 2017
USlacrosse.org
©PHOTO CREDIT
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