By JOSHUA NATOLI
Sports Editor
When you hold a number of the major offensive school records on the Golden Knights soccer pitch by your junior year what could possibly keep you going? “What keeps me going is my family,” says Carmelina Puopolo, senior forward of the Golden Knights Women’s Soccer team. “They keep me grounded and support me through everything I do.” Puopolo is currently the holder of three school records in points, goals, and assists, all which she earned by her junior year. Puopolo attributes to her tremendous success to her will to best herself every year, “I have said to myself that I want to do better next year and beat all of my records from the previous year. So say if I got 10 goals my freshman year, in my sophomore year I wanted to beat that and do better. I just never settle for second best, because I want to be the best.”
All this success has its roots over in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, where Puopolo began playing soccer at four years old. Puopolo’s mother, Kella, pushed her to try the sport, which her two brothers were already playing and her father, Tony, coached. From there, Puopolo moved to playing high school-level soccer at Cardinal Newman Catholic High School, and led her team to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association Tournament her freshman, junior and senior year. The lack of the same success during Puopolo’s sophomore year was due to a torn ACL, which severely affected her collegiate recruiting suitors. Some schools stayed with her, however. Schools like Syracuse, Michigan, and Buffalo, all NCAA Division I institutions still held interest, but it was Saint Rose which ended up with the prize. “They were looking at a goalie on the team I was playing but happened to notice me instead since I scored on her,” says Puopolo. “They then asked me to come see the school and although I was hesitant, I still went to see it getting a little push from my dad. It was honestly the best choice I made because I really loved my recruiting trip and the coaches and players were so friendly and kind, it just seemed like the perfect fit.”
From there you could say the rest is history. Puopolo went on to score ten goals her freshman year. She then followed up that performance by leading the Golden Knights to the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2011, which Puopolo calls “the best day ever.” If you ask Puopolo if she knew her career would be this successful she would say no, “When I was in my freshman year, it was a huge change for me. It was the first time I had been living away from my family in a whole new place, not to mention a whole new country. Saint Rose is six hours away and I was feeling very homesick so I think my head was not all ‘in it’ because I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be there. However, something really changed between my freshman and sophomore year and I sort of grew up a bit and more as a person.”
This year has left a cloud hanging over Puopolo’s season, but not the type that cannot fade away, especially for a player of her caliber. During the third match of the year, Puopolo hyper-extended her knee after colliding with an opposing goalie. “I was so nervous it was my ACL again but this time on my other knee, but it turned out to be a lot of other stuff: my PCL was strained, the capsule at the back of the knee was torn off, and I had a bone bruise on my tibia and femur. The good thing about these injuries is that there was nothing surgically that could be done to fix anything; all of the injuries had to heal on its own…with time of course.” Puopolo has been sidelined ever since and is faced with the decision of whether or not to redshirt, sit out the rest of the postseason and make a return to the field next year during graduate school, or try and make a comeback for her final stand.
Regardless of the decision, Puopolo will make her way to graduate school, whether it is at Saint Rose or Canada will be contingent on the redshirt choice. Also on Puopolo’s mind is turning pro, which she is currently waiting on a recruitment coach. The killer instinct for scoring should make Puopolo a viable candidate for a spot on a professional soccer club, “I think my best skill on the field is scoring,” says Puopolo. “I just love to score and when I do, I want to do it again and again because there is truly no better feeling. I love being the person my teammates look out for to score the game winning goal. I am a very strong player and love to get into battles with defenders and beat people one on one. I just love to hit the ball so hard that it comes off my foot like a bullet.”
The list of achievements stacks to the ceiling: record holder, player of the year, national champion, just to name a few. Clearly the case has been made for Puopolo as the greatest Golden Knight the Women’s Soccer program has ever seen. So, next time you ask her if she can kick it, you should already know the answer.
