Senior Spotlight: #26 Madeline Lucci
11/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
By Cassi White, MSU Athletic Communication Student Assistant
EAST LANSING, Michigan - After her final game her senior season at Stoney Creek High School, Madeline Lucci thought to herself, "this can't be the end of my soccer career." She made sure that it was not.
She had no plans to play the game after high school. However once her final season was over, it hit her. She was too great of an athlete and too great of a competitor for her soccer career to be over.
"I felt healthy, so I just decided to try the club team. I had no intention of ever joining the varsity team or even trying to," Lucci said.
In 2012, her freshman year, the forward led her team to win the MSU club program's first ever National Championship in its 15 years of existence.
"That was exciting. I don't even know how to describe it. Both the women's and men's teams, won the national championship that year too," Lucci said, reminiscing on the experience.
Lucci netted the game-winning goal over the University of California at Santa Barbara. After beating two defenders and the keeper to score the goal, her play earned her tournament Most Valuable Player.
Being Tournament MVP and a National Champion wasn't enough, Lucci wanted more. She wanted to play on the varsity team. Knowing her own work ethic, she knew she could.
"I kind of just started bugging them (coaching staff) in the office," she said, laughing. "I called them a couple of times and asked them if they had open tryouts and they let me come."
Spring semester of her freshman year was basically a semester-long tryout. Lucci started out by attending futsal every Friday in Demonstration Hall and worked out with the varsity team.
She impressed her coaches enough, they invited her to come to spring practices.
"Towards the end of the spring season they were like ‘okay we want you on the team.' I just remember being super excited and calling my parents right away. That was fun," she said, with a huge smile.
Once she made the team, she still wanted more. Now she wanted playing time.
"It's tough, it would be tough on anyone. Ultimately you get through it with your teammates because a lot of them have that same experience, and it's understandable. It's a college sport, you're trying to win as many games with the talent you have and I understand that. I've always made sure that I have this mentality that I'm going to keep working, keep trying to get there and see if I can get some playing time. It's worked out for me," Lucci said.
"I owe a lot of it to the coaches because they've helped me grow individually. They're very great people to learn from. I feel like I can go talk to them about anything, really. You don't always get that with a coach, so that's pretty nice," Lucci said.
Her unusual journey would not have been the same without the relationships she's made with her teammates.
"I've always tried to be close with everyone on the team. I think that's something I've really worked on. I'd like to get to know everyone more than just practicing and stuff. I mean I can't say enough good things about everyone, really. Everyone works hard and it's been such a fun environment," Lucci said.
Throughout the years, Lucci and her teammates have spent an infinite amount of time together both on and off the field due to their friendships.
"You just grow with your team, that's how it goes. You get to learn a lot from everyone. I think that's the best part. You get to learn about a lot of people but you also get to learn from them, which I've enjoyed."
Lucci chose Michigan State, a school that she fell in love with, solely for the school, and not just for the athletics. Her parents raised her as a Spartan and brought her up to be someone who works hard and never gives up.
"Being a Spartan is about always working hard and always having it in your head that you're going to go out and give it your best every time," Lucci said, That's exactly what she's done.
