LYNNFIELD — Lynnfield girls soccer captain Julia Colucci had always had her eye on attending the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Now, she won’t just be studying at her ideal school, but she’ll also be continuing her career on the field with the Engineers women’s soccer team next fall.
“I was thinking about the school before soccer because I knew I wanted to study STEM,” Colucci said. “Then when I decided to play soccer there, I started talking to the coach more and things ended up working out.”
WPI head coach Steph Riley-Schafer has been at the helm for eight seasons. Colucci’s talks with Riley-Schafer stemmed from her junior season at Lynnfield, where she first realized playing with the Engineers could be a reality.
“The first time she saw me play was in my junior year in 2019,” Colucci said. “Then in April 2021, she talked to me and she said she could see me on the team. I felt comfortable going there and it was a really good option for me. I’ve attended a lot of ID camps where she was the coach, so I saw how her coaching style is. She’s really nice and makes you feel comfortable as a player.”
Continuing that connection wasn’t the easiest of tasks. During the pandemic, recruitment became a whole new world. But Colucci was up to the task.
“It was really hard,” Colucci said. “A lot of the coaches went into a dead period where there was no recruiting for a time. You rely on those opportunities and there were just fewer opportunities for coaches to see you, so that was hard. The first time I talked with the coach was on Zoom, so that was different. I had to focus on putting together my film. It was difficult but still doable.”
Colucci and the Pioneers found plenty of success on the soccer field during her time at Lynnfield. During her junior year, the midfielder was a part of Lynnfield’s first team to win a Cape Ann League Large title. This past year, she served as a captain during the pandemic-shortened fall season.
“Last year was a big year for us,” Colucci said. “It was great to be part of the success of winning the CAL Large for the first time. And being a captain was fun. This past season was a hard year but we were still able to enjoy ourselves. I got really close with the other captains too, which was nice.”
Now Colucci hopes for continued success on and off the field at WPI, where she plans on studying engineering but is still undecided on a focus. WPI isn’t a complete new world for Colucci and her family, as her brother Nick graduated from the school in 2020 and played on the Engineers’ baseball team.
As far as fitting in with her new teammates, the process has gone smooth so far for Julia.
“The team seems very welcoming,” Colucci said. “I ran into a few players on campus on a visit and they’re super nice and friendly. On my Zoom call with the coach, I also got to talk with a few players and they talked a lot about chemistry and the friendships. I really like the idea of an environment like that, where it’s not super strict. I want to be able to have fun and enjoy myself while also getting to work.”