As senior midfielder Lydia Foust grew into the program, she found herself being challenged with the idea that not everyone likes to be led the same way she does.
“Understanding that there’s so many different personalities is something I never thought I would have to adapt to,” Foust said. “Just trying to understand who the people are that you’re leading is so important. I never realized how big of a challenge that would be.”
Foust served as one of four captains last season. She said in this role, she found herself making those tone changes while leading defensive huddles.
“I needed to make sure I was saying it in the right tone, people were assuming I was mad at them,” Foust said. “I’m never mad at them, I’m just frustrated that our unit is getting scored on, but I need to realize the way I’m speaking. I have to say it in a way that they can hear it and we can make the changes as a unit.”
But as someone who is more introverted, Foust has been tasked with growing to be more extroverted.
“She’s a very quiet, internal person, but extremely intelligent,” head coach Meredith Black said. “We’ve been working for five years on how to be more external and share more, to be more vulnerable and more comfortable with people. She’s really taken that to heart and really has done that nicely.”
The coaching staff is helping to push the process along by encouraging Foust to demonstrate what she does to be successful on the field.
“I like this saying ‘Do the hard work when no one’s watching’ and that’s always been my motto,” Foust said. “Once I started becoming this leader, my coaches kinda got on me about pulling other people with me and getting other people to learn what I was doing to be successful.”
In Marquette’s season opener win over San Diego State, Foust scored a career-high seven goals which tied a Marquette program record for goals in a game.
Foust said returning for a fifth year on the COVID-19 extra year of eligibility was a no brainer.
“Honestly, that was the easiest decision I could make because you’ll never get college back,” Foust said. “I’m going to be working for the rest of my life, I’ll never be able to take another year of lacrosse and play another year. … I get one real year back and get to experience everything lacrosse should be.”
In her five years with the team, Foust has accumulated 137 points, 105 goals, and a shot-on-goal percentage of .680.
Black credited Foust’s success to her work ethic.
“Getting someone for five (years) is such an added bonus,” Black said. “She is the one player in five years who has stayed after or come early every single day of her career and does extra work on her own.”
Senior midfielder Emma Soccodato said that with this extra year, Foust is helping the team every step of the way.
“She’s grown into being a fearless player, that’s probably one word I would use to describe her,” Soccodato said. “She’s always striving to not only make herself better, but she also does whatever she can to make her teammates better.”
Though Foust remains focused on the field, Soccodato said Foust’s personality off the field is a different story.
“Lydia’s a lot goofier than people think. She’s very serious on the field, as she should be, she’s a beast,” Soccodato said. “She’s shy at first, but once you get to know her she’s really nice and really funny, she’s just a good person to be around.”
Foust said the coaching staff’s endless support has allowed her to develop more as a player this season.
“They’ve just supported me in the areas I’ve needed to grow,” Foust said. “They give me the tools I need to then be able to make changes to be better. To all of my growth, I wouldn’t have done it if my coaches didn’t tell me ‘Hey, this thing you’re doing could be done better.'”
As she plays her final season with Marquette, Foust said she intends to take in every moment of the journey.
“Junior, senior year, that was my year being a big leader,” Foust said. “This year, I am trying to take a step back from all that and just be like ‘there are other seniors who can be these leaders and they can step into those roles’ and I’m trying to take a step back and just have fun. I love playing lacrosse and that’s just my goal, play for me.”
This story was written by Emma Kroll. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @emma_kroll_.
