Siena’s Mary Soures sets records, focuses on team
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (BVM) — With 2:29 left in the fourth quarter in the Siena Saints’ women’s lacrosse game versus the Iona Gaels, senior midfielder Mary Soures made Saints’ program history with her ninth goal of the game. While that was a stellar accomplishment, Soures was not swept up in the record-breaking moment. With just over two minutes to go, she had tied the game for Siena at 20. There was more work to be done.
“I’ll be honest, I knew it was the record in the back of my head, but it really did not click with me,” Soures said. “I was just focused on the fact that now we just tied the game and there was still two minutes left and we had more than enough time to just win. I was just thinking about the win and how we were back in it. This is why we don’t give up… No one was giving up and we were playing to the buzzer. That was all that I could think about.”
The Saints did just that as Nicole McNeeley beat the buzzer and Iona goalie Sofia Votto with three seconds remaining for the 21-20 victory. It was afterward in the locker room with head coach Abigail Rehfuss that the moment began to sink in for Soures since the big goal of the game had been accomplished.
“I was just focused on winning,” Soures. said. “We were not winning at that moment. It was afterwards when our coach made a really nice announcement and gave me one of the game balls… That’s when it really started to hit me that I had made such an accomplishment.”
Nine goals in a single game are incredible, and it was not the only record Soures set on Hickey Field against the Gaels. She also set the record for most goals in the first half of a game with seven.
Records and individual marks are not the motivation for Soures. There has been plenty of recognition recently for Soures as she scored her 100th career goal for Siena against the LaSalle Explorers on March 19. She was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week after that performance, then again after her record-breaking game against Iona. She was also named Primetime Player of the Week by Inside Lacrosse after the game versus the Gaels.
However, Soures is still quick to turn the focus from herself to the team and program. Despite the accolades and the numbers, she immediately talks about her teammates and the program goals rather than her production.
“I’m not playing so that I can have these crazy points for myself,” Soures said. “I’m playing because I want our team to win, and I want what’s best for our team and what’s best for our whole program. I think that’s everyone on the team’s mindset. That selflessness amongst all of us I think is why we have such a great variety of scorers. That’s just what makes our chemistry on and off the field so strong.”
Soures is not just playing for her teammates. She is also playing for her coaches and the belief that Rehfuss and assistant coaches Danielle Tetreault and Tara Prosak have in her.
“I can remember sitting in their office and the three coaches talking to me,” Soures said. “Just giving me as much confidence as I could possibly have heard from them, just knowing how much they believe in me. That’s what I always look back at when I need any sort of reminder for myself. They believe in me so much that I just want to give something back to them.”
That belief has paid off as Soures continues to produce at a high level for Siena. Her perspective keeps her grounded despite incredible performance after performance. When an offensive player like Soures is fixed on the team, that is when she can shine. Even when she thinks about where scoring nine goals in a single game will rank in her career memories, the focus still is on the team.
“In terms of my career, I’m going to look back at those moments and I think the biggest takeaway is still going to be the whole team picture,” Soures said. “Everything that’s happened just shows that you really can’t give up, not just off the field but on the field too with everything. You just never know what’s going to happen, so you have to give it your all at all times. You really just have to be in the moment.
“If I had thought in that moment, when I had eight goals, if I was thinking about anything but the win, then I don’t think I would have ever broken the record and got nine goals because I would have just been thinking about myself. I think that, looking back, I will always remember it as a lesson that proves that you just can’t give up. That’s all I can really think about it.”
