Sadie Saves: Scholar Athlete of the Year to finish off career Friday
She’s first in the Mid-American Conference in saves and saves per game. She’s sixth in the country with 8.31 per game.
Senior field hockey goalkeeper Sadie Lynn Reynolds has been on the opposite side of the offense for four years, and said she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
With one game left in her field hockey career, Reynolds has become an essential asset to the field hockey team. Starting in the third grade, she’s played ever since.
“Field hockey challenges me in all aspects of life. I’ve loved it from the start,” Reynolds said. “I started as a forward because I wanted to score. But then I got to middle school, and they asked who wanted to be goalkeeper and I volunteered. Ever since middle school, I knew I wanted to be a goalkeeper."
Standing between the goalposts, Reynolds said she sees the game from a different perspective than most.
“Being a goalkeeper is definitely added pressure,” Reynolds said. “I love the pressure as an added adrenaline rush. I think being a goalie helps with the understanding of the game because I can see a lot of things people don’t see. I think it’s exciting to see everyone succeed in front of me.”
When the opponent scores on Reynolds, she quickly bounces back and focuses on the next play.
“When you make a mistake as a goalkeeper, it’s usually fatal,” Reynolds said. “But you just have to keep in mind to move on and I immediately think, ‘Get the next one.’ After that, I ask myself what happened that the ball went in and thirdly I don’t let that mistake happen again.”
When trying to decide what school to play Division I field hockey for, Reynolds found Central Michigan to be the right choice.
“I knew I wanted to play Division I field hockey,” she said. “I went online to search for Division I field hockey schools that had communication disorder majors, and CMU fell under that. I wanted to stay kind of close to home, so Central was a pretty good fit for me.”
Reynolds is majoring in child development and double minoring in American Sign Language and communication disorders.
“The plan right now is to go to graduate school for communication disorders and get my speech therapy license,” Reynolds said. “I would like to work in a school system working with kids specially.”
Reynolds has succeeded at CMU, receiving Second Team All-MAC honors and was awarded the 2015 Dick Enberg Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. She has a 3.34 GPA and has started for the Chippewas since her sophomore year.
The annual award is presented to a student-athlete entering his or her senior season, carrying a 3.2 or better GPA along with being a team leader and having success in his or her sport.
“She’s a wonderful person,” said Head Coach Molly Pelowski. “She does her very best in the classroom, on the field and in the community. She’s a great representative for CMU’s athletics and a great asset for our program, and certainly one we’ll remember long after she’s gone.”
Aside from on the field and in the classroom, Reynolds keeps herself busy in various groups. Reynolds is on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, one of the two representatives for the field hockey team and vice president for that committee as well.
As her senior year comes to a close, Reynolds has accomplished great things in her career at CMU and said she will not forget the relationships she built along the way.
“I’m going to miss the girls a lot, especially my class,” Reynolds said. “We’ve been playing with each other for four years, going through struggles together, seeing each other succeed, and together winning a MAC Championship. We’ve became a really good support system for each other.”
Senior midfielder Kaysie Gregory is one of seven seniors on the team, including Reynolds.
“I would consider Sadie Lynn one of my good friends,” Gregory said. “We’ve spent the past four years together and I know if I needed her and she needed me, we would always have each other’s backs. Sadie will always be Sadie to me. She is that southern belle and has that goofy personality.”
The season comes to an end Friday against Ball State in Muncie, Indiana. It will be the last game in Gregory and Reynolds’ Central Michigan career.
“I’ll miss always having a support group and always having someone there,” Gregory said. “I will miss how hilarious every single one is in my class. We’ve been through our fair share of good times and bad times. When it comes down to it, we always have each others’ backs. If I ever needed someone, I can always turn to (one of the seniors).”
