Senior women’s lacrosse goalkeeper Maire Prosak completed one of the best games of her career last Saturday against crosstown rival Nazareth College as the ‘Jackets won with a score of 8–5. The senior captain grabbed seven saves and allowed five goals to lead her team to victory. Prosak played all 60 minutes in goal and was named Liberty League Defensive Player of the Week.
When did you start playing lacrosse? What got you motivated to start playing and keep playing all these years?
I started playing lacrosse at the end of second grade. My parents wanted me to start a year earlier with my older sister, but I didn’t want to because I wasn’t really sure what lacrosse was, and I was afraid to get hit by the ball. Ironically, by the end of fourth grade, I decided I wanted to be a goalie.
Who has been the biggest influence in your lacrosse career?
From a young age, I always wanted to be just like my older sister, Tara. A year after she began playing lacrosse, I wanted to play. She then became a goalie, so I became a goalie. It’s a typical story of a younger sister looking up to her older sister, but I don’t mind admitting it. I never really looked up to any collegiate players when I was younger, or was majorly influenced by them, besides their skill levels. Instead, since Tara is only two years older, that was old enough to have her as a great role model, but also as a close competitor to always motivate me.
How big of a role does your sport play in your life, and how important is it to you?
I don’t think I realized when I began playing lacrosse how big of a role it would have in my life. Besides my older sister, I have three younger sisters, and our lives have always revolved around sports. Since there are five of us, we are all competitive with each other (in a good way), and lacrosse has been a good way to filter that. Additionally, not only has lacrosse been a great connection between me and my sisters, it also has helped me in terms of building my leadership and teamwork skills. Coach Behme has always stressed the importance of having good character both on and off the field. Both she and lacrosse have helped me in developing this, and I know that all of these skills will help me in the future. Lastly, and most importantly, lacrosse has provided me with great friendships, which will remain with me beyond graduation.
What did it mean to you to have such a great game and be such a contributor to a big victory over Nazareth?
The game against Naz meant a lot to me not just because that is the one game that is still ingrained in my mind from last year (losing by one goal in the final seconds), but because Naz is where Tara played lacrosse in college. Even though she graduated two years ago, the UR v. Naz game has always been a big one for my family, ever since I decided to come here four years ago. I also still know a lot of the girls on their team, so I always place a lot of personal pressure on this game, more than most of the others. Even though we did beat Naz once, when Tara was on the team, I was really hoping to beat them one last time in my final season.
How will this win give the team momentum going into the rest of the season?
I believe that this win will give us a lot of confidence as we move forward in the season. Naz is a very skilled team, and beating them was a big obstacle that we knew we were going to face. Going into this game, we knew that last year’s outcome was something that we didn’t want to relive and knew that we could play at a higher level than them if we set our minds to it. This win shows us how we have the necessary tools and talent to be a great team as long as we play together and stay focused. It also proves to us as a team that, as long as we stay motivated, the only direction we have to go from here is up.
Would you rather have have an ice cream sandwich or frozen yogurt ?
I can’t have ice cream because I’m lactose intolerant, but I really like chocolate, especially M&Ms.
