It’s hard enough to get Marissa Reed to talk under normal circumstances, let alone when her friends try to make her laugh during an interview.
But her reserved nature changes once she dons a lacrosse uniform.
“It’s so weird because on the field I don’t shut up,” she said with a grin. “I could yell, I could do so much. But off the field I’m so quiet. It’s such a difference. It’s like I need to talk on the field.”
That was obvious during a recent game with Lawrence, when the Cardinals successfully prevented a Hornet goal, and Reed yelled loud and clear from midfield, “Don’t act like you’ve never seen that before!”
The senior speaks with more than just words, however. Her actions as a defender have spoken volumes for the Hornets varsity over the past four years.
“She and Emily Provost are both the heart of our defense,” second-year coach Kerryn Campbell said. “When they come in [to the bench] she tells me we’re not talking. I can see her giving directions on the field about defense. She is both strong defensively and offensively. If we need her to take it up the field, she can do that for us too, and create space and see the options.”
And while Reed feels she’s loud on the field, Campbell sees it a different way.
“She’s a quiet leader,” the coach said. “When we’re in a huddle she’ll say, ‘We need to work on this,’ but she’ll have that conversation with me. She’s the coach on the field, and girls will listen to her.”
The way Reed plays, one would never guess she needed a mental overhaul before adapting to defense. If they made her life story into a movie as a freshman it would have been entitled “The Reluctant One.”
Anthony Tessein was coaching both the girls’ soccer and lacrosse teams at the time. Reed arrived on the pitch as a freshman and, despite being a midfielder during her first nine years in the sport, Tessein put her on defense. Like many other soccer players, she was recruited by the coach to play lacrosse, where he once again put her in the back.
A glassful of vinegar would have gone down better for Reed.
“I hated defense, I didn’t want to play,” she said. “Tessein just put me at defense with another girl. We hated it, but we were good and it just stuck.”
The obvious question was, “if Reed was good, why did she hate it?”
The answer, as it turned out, was just as obvious.
“Because it’s hard, it’s just so hard,” Reed said. “It’s you, the person with the ball and the goalie, and you know it’s [up to] you.”
The fact she’s only 5-foot-2 makes it even harder when a taller opponent comes dodging her way toward the goal.
Reed, however, is fearless.
“I definitely have to be aggressive; being aggressive is big,” she said. “You can’t be scared. You just have to know if they’re coming at you, just hang in there.”
She did just that in an opening day loss to Steinert. At one point in the second half, the Spartans’ Emily Gulsby came roaring in toward the goal ready to let a shot fly. Reed stood her ground and was knocked down by the bigger Gulsby, resulting in the Hornets getting possession.
“She knows how to do that,” Campbell said. “She’s willing to take a hit if she needs to which is really good to have. She is strong defensively, she’s vocal out there without being negative. She knows how to be positive and give the girls constructive criticism versus yelling. She’s very good at that.”
Joining Reed in the back are Provost, Erica DiMattia and Haley Bernacz. They play in front of goalie Shannon Hood, who has been nothing short of outstanding this season. Reed is the glue to the unit, which has steadily improved during the year.
“It gives you encouragement, knowing you have a veteran back there,” Campbell said. “I only have seven returning varsity players, so we’re trying to bring in the new girls and build our defense. To have the heart of our defense be able to show them the way so they can take it on for next year, it’s huge.”
Reed admitted that early on her career, she missed the attention afforded to the Hornet goal scorers like Lashay Ross, Erin Septer and Loran Wyrough. As time went on, she began to appreciate her importance.
“A lot of people sometimes don’t recognize the defense,” Reed said. “For the scorers, they’re like ‘Oh my God, you’re good, you scored.’ I knew I could play everything, and I could score goals. But now I love defense. I love stopping goals instead of making them.”
Reed said she adopted that philosophy her sophomore year, when she was thrust into an early-career leadership role. Her only problem now is telling people what her actual position is.
“To be honest, I don’t really know the name,” she said, laughing. “Point, maybe? Cover point? I just stay back. I’m like the sweeper in soccer.”
Wherever she plays, Reed enjoys it immensely, saying, “I’ve been playing soccer for 13 years, and I could never say I loved soccer. But I love lacrosse.”
Ironically, her soccer career may not be over. Reed will head for Mercer County Community College next year and hopes to play for new coach Elyse Diamond, since MCCC does not have a lacrosse program.
She could easily get into a four-year school with a 3.76 GPA, but will be able to attend Mercer for free thanks to the NJ STARS program. Reed is also in the National Honor Society, Italian Honor Society, the National Technical Honor Society and Key Club.
“I’d like to do nursing, or something medical,” she said. “I don’t want to be a doctor. I don’t think I could go through that much school.”
After all, think of all the talking in class she would have to do.
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