Senior Dominique Paglia committed to Brandeis University for its blend and balance of academics and athletics. She shared her opinion on the current situations regarding COVID-19 and how the global pandemic may affect recruitments for students as well.

Q: What was your mindset freshman year?

A: I knew that I wanted [to play] soccer going into college, and I was more geared towards D3 schools because I felt like I had less motivation coming back from my injury [broken leg] and I wanted a little less commitment as well as being able to balance a highly academic school. Then as my sophomore and junior year progressed, I was just looking at D3 schools the whole time and so that’s how I was able to find Brandeis. It was close to home and had a perfect blend of academics and athletics.

Q: Why is a good balance and blend of athletics and academics important to you in a college?

A: It definitely was something I always had in mind. Before my freshman year, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to study in [college], or what my interests were academics wise. I wasn’t really sure what schools to look at because I didn’t know what kind of balance I was looking for. Once I realized that I wanted to study sciences, I found a lot of good schools in the area, some also farther away. Trinity, Tufts, Brandeis, and Johns Hopkins were some schools I had been looking at. They were all very good in the neuroscience department, and that’s how I was able to find and narrow down some schools as well as figure out that science [schools]  are not schools I can play soccer at all the time because it is so heavy on the academic load.

Q: What was your thought process when you were choosing Brandeis compared to other colleges?

A: So at the time I was verbally committing, I had three schools [narrowed down]: Tufts, Trinity College, and Brandeis. Tufts was actually my number one school although, with COVID and all of that, I was not able to go to the clinics that I had signed up for […]. I specifically asked [the coach] for a yes or no commitment wise. She was not able to give me an answer, so at that point, I had to go to Trinity and Brandeis, who had both given me offers, and decide between those two schools. Based on geographics, Trinity is an hour and a half away from my house and Brandeis is only 25 minutes, and [there were] some other factors, such as the girls on my club team who had committed there. So at the end of my recruiting process, that’s how I narrowed down my schools. 

Q: During freshman year, was Brandeis even a college you were thinking about? 

A: I hadn’t even heard about Brandeis until the head coach had reached out to me. I was actually flown out to Indiana to visit the head coach at the University of Indiana. I had visited Notre Dame at the time, so that was all before my injury, and that was the level of schools I was looking at at the time. Not until the Brandeis head coach had reached out to me, was when Brandeis became a [possibility] I had to consider. After looking into the aspects and what they had to offer, I was hooked on the idea of going there. 

Q: Considering the recent situation, how has coronavirus affected you as a player?

A: It’s definitely been difficult to get out there and get some exposure to colleges and just clubs and high schools in general. As a player individually, I feel like I’ve gained a lot more self-motivation to just go out and practice on my own since I hadn’t been able to be in contact with other players that I usually practice with. It’s definitely been helpful in the way of teaching me to motivate myself.

Q: What is your opinion on the coronavirus and it affecting other athletes and their chances at showing off to scouts?

A: So it definitely was easier for me, since I had finished my recruiting before COVID had even started, although, throughout the process, it did deter some of the options that I had. I think it’s very hard for the junior athletes this year because there is a dead period for division one and division two schools, so I think in that way it could encourage people to pursue division three sports. With all the winter sports getting possibly canceled, I think as long as all the sports are following the guidelines that have been set, I think there really is no reason to stop or get in the way of kids just really wanting to play the sports they love. I really encourage people trying to get out there and advocate for themselves in that way.

Q: Who is or was your inspiration or any figure that helped you get to where you are today?

A: Playing on WAGS [Westford Academy Girls Soccer] for four years, and also playing with these two players in club soccer, two girls who graduated last year, Brooke Ditcham and Ally Giovino, they both went D1 soccer, and I played with them all the time. Being able to bounce my ideas off of them and ask them questions, because I was very curious about the college process, and just to have them encouraging me and guiding me along the way really motivated me to keep pursuing my dreams of being a college athlete. Just in general they were really amazing role models for me.

Q: Do you have any last pieces of advice for other aspiring athletes during this time? 

A: I definitely would advise them not to give up. If they have a dream to play, or be a collegiate athlete, they shouldn’t let COVID diminish their dreams or aspirations. Another thing that really helped me [early on], was setting up and laying out the options that I had, so I could more easily narrow it down to more realistic options for me as a college athlete.